.
..
;
it, ma
S MACM1LLA
*»..-' JL .a. Ji .*. ^*,**i> & *. Js- st
CANADIAN WONDER TALES
THE GREAT COURT-TENT WAS FILLED WITH GLOOSKAP S PEOPLE FOR THE SUN'S TRIAL.
CANADIAN
WONDER TALES
BY CYRUS MACMILLAN
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN
COLOUR BY GEORGE SHERINGHAM
AND A FOREWORD BY SIR WILLIAM PETERSON, K.C.M.G.
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY
TORONTO: S. B. GUNDY. MCMXVIII
WILLIAM BKBNUON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND
TO
MY MOTHER
WHO FIRST TAUGHT ME TO SEE
THE FAIRY WORLD
AND TO HEAR THE HORNS
OF ELF-LAND BLOWING.
FOREWORD
f" ""^HIS is the book of a soldier-student. Captain
Macmillan interrupted his teaching work in
Montreal to go overseas with one of our McGill
Batteries, and from "Somewhere in France" he has asked
me to stand sponsor for his volume.
The author's method resembles that followed by the
brothers Grimm a century ago. He has taken down from
the lips of living people, pretty much as they were given to
him, a series of stories which obviously contain many
elements that have been handed down by oral tradition
from some far-off past. They are mostly animal stories,
with all the usual features of magic and transformation,
articulate speech on the part of the animals, and interchange
of more or less kindly offices between man and beast.
The result is a collection of fables which — especially as
illustrated by an eminent artist — will prove a very acceptable
Christmas book for children, and will give their elders also
some food for reflection. Not that there is, so far as I
have been able to discover, any moral about some at least
Vll
viii CANADIAN WONDER TALES
of the tales. They are not "stories with a purpose." But
they suggest to the adult reader the essential identity of
many of the methods by which in a more or less remote
antiquity the human race expressed itself in various parts
of the world.
That has now become a matter of scientific study. The
floating material of popular tradition at different times
and in different places has been spread out, as it were, on a
dissecting-table by our Folk-lore Societies, and the thoughts
and beliefs, customs and superstitions therein preserved
have been studied from the comparative point of view for the
light they throw on the primitive development of the human
mind. Those of us who read the Journal of American
Folk-lore, or the papers on Indian mythology recently con
tributed by C. M. Barbeau to the anthropological series
issued by the Geological Survey of Canada, have many
sources at hand with which Mr. Macmillan's folk-tales may
be profitably compared. Some of the stories — those, for
instance, that refer to Shrove Tuesday on the one hand,
and packed sardines on the other — are obviously of no earlier
date than "the days when Canada was owned by the French."
But many of them go back to "long before the white men
came to Canada." That these are folk-tales of the universal
type is evidenced by the primitive traditions which they
FOREWORD ix
embody. In all such stories striking resemblances occur,
whether they are the records of Algonquins or Zulus, Hotten
tots or Australian Bushmen. To say nothing of charms and
incantations, magic coats and magic wands, ogres and giants,
mermen and mermaidens, supernatural creatures and speak
ing beasts, evil spirits in disguise, there are the standing-
dishes of all such folk-tales — the strong man and his
adventures, the bride carried off by the youthful hero and
pursued by her father, the promise that the bride shall be
given to anyone who shall accomplish some difficult task,
with death as the penalty of failure. These and such-like
features are all examples of primitive methods of self-
expression, and represent, in the case before us, the Indian's
elemental ideas of the universe around him and his relation
to it.
Thus Mr. Macmillan's "Wonder Tales," while serving
for the pleasure and delight of children, have their points of
contact with what we must take to be the background
of prehistoric culture on the continent of America. But the
children will read and enjoy them for their own sake, and
unhampered by any such applications of the comparative
method. They will learn in this book the answers to such
conundrums as the following — Why Frog croaks, Why Bear
eats fish, Why Bunny has a short tail and long hind-legs
x CANADIAN WONDER TALES
and a split upper-lip, Why Partridge makes a drumming
noise, Why Mosquitoes sting, Why Aspen leaves tremble,
What Woodpecker and Bluejay were before they were
changed into birds, Why the Moon usually travels alone in
the forest. And, if they find anything unsatisfactory about
the answers herein recorded, they will have the opportunity
of exercising their imaginations to better purpose than was
done by those who gave these answers in the days when
the world was young!
W. PETERSON
October, 1917.
PREFACE
r iHE tales in this collection have been gathered in
various parts of Canada. They have been selected
•^ from a larger collection of folk-tales and folk-songs
made by the writer for more academic and scientific purposes.
They are not the product of the writer's imagination ; they
are the common possession of the " folk." Many of them
are still reverently believed by the Canadian Indians, and all
are still told with seriousness around camp fires in forests
and on plains, upon the sea and by cottage hearths. The
dress in which they now appear may be new, but the skeleton
of each story has been left unchanged.
Canada is a country with a romantic past. The atmosphere
in which our ancestors lived in the early days of exploration
and colonization, if not one of enchantment, was at least one
of mystery. The traditions and tales of our country's past
are rapidly disappearing in its practical present, and the
poetry of its former times is rarely heard above the hum
of its modern life. Its "old unhappy far-off things and
battles long ago" are fading memories, for comparatively
XI
xii CANADIAN WONDER TALES
little has been done to save its old tales from oblivion. That
the children of the land may know something of the tradi
tions of the mysterious past in which their forefathers dwelt
and laboured is the writer's only excuse for the publication of
this volume.
The writer's deepest thanks are here expressed to the
nameless Indians and "habitants," the fishermen and sailors,
"the spinners and the knitters in the sun," from whose lips
he heard these stories.
It is perhaps but fair to explain that the proofs were
corrected by the writer in the intervals between other duties
on Vimy Ridge, France, and that to this fact and the conse
quent haste any minor errors may in part at least be
attributed.
CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD ..... vii
PREFACE . xi
THE BAKER'S MAGIC WAND . . 3
STAR-BOY AND THE SUN DANCE .... 12
JACK AND His MAGIC AIDS . . 20
THE BAD INDIAN'S ASHES . . . 28
THE MERMAID OF THE MAGDALENES . .32
THE BOY AND THE DANCING FAIRY . . 38
THE MOUSE AND THE SUN . . 46
GLOOSKAP'S COUNTRY . . 52
How RABBIT LOST His TAIL . . 60
THE PARTRIDGE AND His DRUM . 66
How SUMMER CAME TO CANADA . 74
How TURTLE CAME . . 82
THE FIRST MOSQUITO . 88
THE MOON AND His FROG-WIFE . . 96
GLOOSKAP AND THE FAIRY . . 101
THE PASSING OF GLOOSKAP . 104
THE INDIAN CINDERELLA . . .116
THE BOY AND His THREE HELPERS . 120
THE DUCK WITH RED FEET • I24
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS . .129
THE BOY AND THE ROBBERS' MAGICAL BOOTY . 138
xiii
xiv CANADIAN WONDER TALES
PAGE
THE COMING OF THE CORN . .147
THE DANCE OF DEATH . . . . 151
THE FIRST PIG AND PORCUPINE . . . 155
THE SHROVE TUESDAY VISITOR . . ... 162
THE BOY OF GREAT STRENGTH AND THE GIANTS . 168
THE STRANGE TALE OF CARIBOU AND MOOSE . . .172
JACK AND His WONDERFUL HEN , . ... 179
THE SAD TALE OF WOODPECKER AND BLUEJAY . . .184
THE STUPID BOY AND THE WAND . . 188
THE BLACKFOOT AND THE BEAR . . . 193
THE BOYS AND THE GIANT . . ... 198
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE BLACKFOOT AND THE BEAR Half-title
" THE GREAT COURT-TENT WAS FILLED WITH GLOOSKAP'S PEOPLE FOR THE
SUN'S TRIAL " .......... Frontispiece
TO PACK PAGE
"On, MY SEIGNEUR, YOU COMMANDED A ' TIENS-BON-LA ' AND I HAVE
BROUGHT YOU ONE, THE BEST THAT WAS EVER MADE " IO
" THE GIRL LOOKED THROUGH THE HOLE, AND SAW THE EARTH FAR BENEATH " 14
" WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH THE cow ? " 20
THE BAD INDIAN 28
" SO THEY DREW LOTS TO SEE WHO SHOULD SEEK HIM IN THE FOREST " . 30
" A MEETING OF ALL THE FISH IN THE SEA WAS CALLED " ... 32
" THAT NIGHT WHEN ALL THE VILLAGE WAS ASLEEP, THE BOY WENT TO THE
FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN " 40
" THE SNOW LAY DEEP ON THE PLAINS, AND MANY SNOW-BIRDS WERE FLYING
AROUND LOOKING FOR FOOD " 46
" I SHOULD LIKE TO SEE MY MOTHER'S PEOPLE IF THEY ARE ANYWHERE ON
THE EARTH " 48
" THE GREAT EAGLE MADE THE WINDS FOR HIM " 56
" THE PEOPLE WERE ALL GATHERED FOR THE WEDDING " ... 62
" HE SAW FOUR BEAUTIFUL MAIDENS SITTING ON THE ICE BRAIDING THEIR
HAIR " ' . 68
" HER NAME is SUMMER " 78
" GLOOSKAP GATHERED HIS PEOPLE ON THE SHORE AND BADE THE WHALES
CARRY THEM TO THEIR OLD HOME " 94
" THE LITTLE MAN WEATHERS THE STORM IN GLOOSKAP'S HEAVY CANOE " . 102
" GLOOSKAP WALKED ALONE BY THE OCEAN " . . . .N .104
XV
xvi CANADIAN WONDER TALES
TO FACE PACE
" I AM TIRED OF THE LONELY LIFE ; I HAVE COME FOR YOUR DAUGHTER " . IIO
" SHE WAS VERY BEAUTIFUL AND GENTLE " . .. . . .Il8
" THE CHIEF HAD A BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER " 122
" A VERY BEAUTIFUL GIRL SITTING ON THE BANK OF THE STREAM " . . 124
" SHE CLIMBED INTO A TREE THAT STRETCHED OUT OVER THE WATER " . 136
" MANY WOMEN SAT AROUND IN A CIRCLE, ALL SAD AND WEEPING " . 144
" HE WALKED THROUGH THE FOREST UNTIL HE CAME SUDDENLY UPON A
WIDE AND OPEN RED PLAIN " 148
" IN THE TRIBE WAS A VERY HANDSOME YOUNG MAN " 152
" FROM THE BEACH CAME A LARGE WHITE SEAGULL " . . . . 158
" THE NIGHT WAS ALWAYS ONE OF GREAT MERRIMENT AND FEASTING " . 162
" HE SAW FOUR LARGE FISH LYING ON THE ICE " 170
" IN THE EVENING THEY CAME TO A CAMP " . . . . . 172
" HE BOUGHT A LARGE QUANTITY OF FOOD, PUT IT IN A BASKET, AND CARRIED
IT TO THE ANIMAL YARD " l82
" THEN HE DRESSED HIS SISTER IN GOOD CLOTHES AND WASHED AND COMBED
HER HAIR " 186
" THE PIGS CAME GRUNTING OVER THE SAND " ..... IQO
" THE PEOPLE SET OUT TO FIND THE GIANTS. SOON THEY CAME TO THEIR
CAVE " 199
CANADIAN WONDER TALES
CANADIAN WONDER TALES
THE BAKER'S MAGIC WAND
ONCE very long ago in the days when Canada was
owned by the French there lived on the banks of
a great river a wicked lawyer who was in love with
a baker's wife. He tried in various ways to get rid of the
baker, but without success. They lived not far from the
Seigneur who owned all the land around and was very
powerful. Now, in front of the Seigneur's palace there was
a great lake of more than twelve thousand acres. One morn
ing the lawyer went to the palace and knocked at the door.
When the Seigneur came out, he said to him, " Sire, there is
a man not far from here who boasts that in less than twice
twenty-four hours he can change this lake into a beautiful
meadow covered with grass that would give hay enough for
all your horses and would be to the great advantage of the
colony." Then the Seigneur said, "Who is this man?"
The lawyer answered, " He is no less than the baker who
furnishes your household with bread." So the Seigneur said,
" I will send for him."
if; :. CANADIAN WONDER TALES
The lawyer went away, and the Seigneur sent a letter to
the baker saying that he wanted to see him. The poor baker
thought he was to get his pay for the bread he had provided
for the Seigneur and all his servants and soldiers. So he
was very glad, and went quickly to the palace and knocked at
the door. When the Seigneur came out, he asked what was
wanted of him. The Seigneur answered that he had heard of
his boast that in less than twice twenty-four hours he could
change all the lake into a beautiful meadow covered with
grass and clover that would feed all the Seigneur's horses
and would be a great advantage to the colony. Now, unless
within twice twenty-four hours the lake was changed into
a meadow, the baker should be hanged before the door of
the palace.
Then the Seigneur turned away and the baker went out
discouraged, for he did not know what to do. He walked off
into the woods and sat down on a log to weep. After a long
time an old woman came along and asked what was the matter.
He said he was very miserable ; he was going to be hanged
in twice twenty-four hours; for the Seigneur had commanded
him to change all the lake into a meadow, covered with grass
and clover, and he was not able to do it. Now, this old
woman was a good fairy in disguise and when the baker had
done speaking she told him not to be troubled but to go to
sleep. She gave him* a wand just like a broken stick, which
she told him to wave before he slept ; it had great power, she
THE BAKER'S MAGIC WAND 5
said, and while he slept it would bring to pass whatever he
desired. So he waved the wand and went to sleep. When
he had slept an hour, he was awakened by the smell of hay,
and when he looked about him, he saw that the lake was all
gone and that there was only a small river that ran through
the middle of a beautiful meadow down to the great river not
far away. The good fairy was still by his side. She told
him to go to the Seigneur and show him what he had done.
He went to the palace, and when he came near, he saw the
Seigneur looking out of the window at the meadow, and all
the men and horses at work making hay. He knocked at the
door, and when the Seigneur came downstairs, he asked him
if he was satisfied. The Seigneur said he was not satisfied,
because the river had been left running through the middle of
the meadow. The baker told the Seigneur that the river had
been left to provide water for the animals and to help in
making hay, because there was so much hay that all the
horses in the land could not draw it and it would have to be
brought in boats. Then the Seigneur was satisfied and sent
the baker away.
Soon the wicked lawyer came again, and the Seigneur
showed him the meadow and the men and women and horses
making hay. The lawyer was much surprised to see all this,
but he did not say so. Instead, he told the Seigneur that he
had no doubt the baker could do a great deal more than that ;
the baker, he said, had boasted that he could make a " tiens-
6 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
bon-la" for the Seigneur that would be worth a great deal
more than the meadow and would be a great advantage to the
colony. "What is a 'tiens-bon-la'?" asked the Seigneur.
"I do not know," answered the lawyer; "but the baker said
he could make one." " I will send for him," said the
Seigneur. So he sent for the baker, who was just making
his bread. When he had put the bread into the oven, he
went to the palace and knocked again, and the Seigneur
came to the door. The Seigneur said : "I have heard that
you boasted that you can make a ' tiens-bon-la ' that would be
worth more than the meadow and a great advantage to the
colony. Now you shall go home and make it, and unless you
bring it to me in twice twenty-four hours, you shall be hanged
before the palace gate." The baker asked, "What is a
' tiens-bon-la ' ? " The Seigneur said, " I do not know, but
I must have one within twice twenty-four hours." Then he
went into his palace again.
The poor baker went away more sorrowful than before.
He had no idea of what a "tiens-bon-la" was; but yet he
knew he should be hanged unless he made one within twice
twenty-four hours. He went out into the forest again and sat
down on the same log as he had sat on before, and wept as
hard as he could. When he had cried himself to sleep, the
good old fairy came again and waked him up and asked him
what was the matter. He told her that he should certainly
be hanged this time, for he had been ordered to make a
THE BAKER'S MAGIC WAND 7
" tiens-bon-la" for the Seigneur, and he did not know what it
was. Then the fairy said, "It is only that wicked lawyer
who is in love with your wife and wants to get rid of you.
You must do what I tell you and the lawyer will be punished,
for we shall make a 'tiens-bon-la' that will satisfy the
Seigneur. Go to your home and tell your wife that you are
commanded to make a ' tiens-bon-la ' for the Seigneur and
that you have nothing to make it of. Tell her to put two
days' provisions in a bag for you, and when she has them all
ready, go to your room and take the latch off the window.
Then say good-bye to your wife, and walk about the country
until it is dark. As soon as you are gone your wife will send
for the lawyer and invite him to supper. Before he comes,
and after it is dark, you must come back to your house and
get in at the window and hide yourself under the bed. Now,
the lawyer will not eat without first washing his hands.
When he comes, your wife will send him into the room where
you are hiding to wash, and when he takes hold of the wash
basin you must cry out " tiens-bon-la." Take this wand that
I will give you and anything you wave it at when you cry
'tiens-bon-la' will hold fast to whatever it is touching."
Then she gave him another wand and went her way.
The baker did as the fairy had told him, and his wife was
very glad to learn that he was going away ; and she packed
up a large bag of provisions and sent him off. As soon as
he was out of the house she sent a note to the lawyer telling
8 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
him that her husband was gone away for two days and that
she would like to have him come to supper. The baker
walked around the country until it was dark, and then came
back and hid himself under the bed. His wife told the
servant to set the table and prepare a nice supper, and then
she went to get ready to receive the lawyer. Soon the lawyer
arrived. The servant showed him into a room where he
might wash his hands after his day's work before he sat down
to his meal. The baker was under the bed in the room.
There was some water that was not very clean in the wash
basin, and when the lawyer took hold of the basin to throw
the water out, the baker, who was under the bed, waved his
wand and cried out " tiens-bon-la," and the lawyer's hands
stuck to the basin so that he could not let go and the basin
stuck to the wash-stand. He called out to the servant to
come and help him, but she was busy about the supper and
did not hear him. So then he cried out as loud as he could,
" Madame, Madame." When the baker's wife heard him, she
was dreadfully frightened and ran in to see what was the
matter. When she found the lawyer stuck to the wash-stand,
which was very large and heavy, she took hold of him with
both hands to pull him away. Then her husband cried out
from under the bed "tiens-bon-la," and the wife could not let
go the lawyer. Then the baker went out and called in some
of his friends, and they ate the supper and drank the wine
that had been prepared for the lawyer who was stuck to the
THE BAKER'S MAGIC WAND 9
wash-stand, and the wife who could not let go the
lawyer.
When morning came, the baker took the wand that the
fairy had given him and told his wife and the lawyer that if
they wanted to get loose they must do as he told them. With
his wand he loosened the basin from the wash-stand. Then
he made them go out into the street, and he started them
towards the Seigneur's palace.
As soon as they all came out into the light, the baker saw
that there was a hole in his wife's dress, so he pulled some
grass and twisted it into a wisp and filled up the hole.
Presently they came to a cow that was feeding by the side of
the road. There was not much grass there and the cow was
hungry, so when she saw the wisp of grass sticking from the
woman's dress she began to eat it ; but the baker waved his
wand and cried " tiens-bon-la " and the cow's teeth stuck in
the grass and the grass stuck to the dress. They all went
along until they came to a house where there was a large dog
on the doorstep. When the dog saw the people, he jumped
over the fence to see where they were going. The cow gave
him a switch with her tail across the nose, the baker cried
"tiens-bon-la," and the dog stuck to the cow's tail and went
along with the rest. When the old woman who owned the dog
saw him going off in this manner, she was very angry ; she
called him but he would not come ; then she ran out with the
broom that she was using to sweep the floor, and began to
io CANADIAN WONDER TALES
beat the dog to drive him home. But the baker cried out
"tiens-bon-la" again and so the broom stuck to the dog and
the old woman could not let go the broom. The old woman's
husband was quite lame ; he ran after his wife, limping along
with a stick. He could not go very fast, but he went as well
as he could to see what his old woman was beating the dog
for. When he came up, he took hold of the woman's dress
to pull her away, but the baker cried out "tiens-bon-la" again
and the lame farmer had to go limping along with the others.
So they all went to the Seigneur's palace — the lawyer with
the heavy wash-basin, the woman holding on to the lawyer,
the cow trying to eat the wisp of hay, the dog barking at the
cow and sticking to her tail, the old woman with her broom,
and the lame farmer limping along with his stick. The baker
knocked at the door and when the Seigneur opened it he said :
"Oh, my Seigneur, you ordered a 'tiens-bon-la' and I have
brought you one, the best that was ever made. If you will
be pleased to try it, I hope you will be content." The
Seigneur took hold of the basin to take it away from the
lawyer, the baker cried "tiens-bon-la" again, and the Seigneur
was held to the basin as fast as the others. He tried hard to
get away but the "tiens-bon-la" was good and would not
let go.
Then the Seigneur asked the baker what he would take to
let him off. After a long time the baker said he would let
him go if the Seigneur would give a great sum of money
'OH. MY SEIQNEUR, YOU COMMANDED A ' TIENS-BON-LA,1 AND I HAVE BROUGHT YOU ONE '
THE BAKER'S MAGIC WAND 11
every year to himself and to each of his fifteen children. The
Seigneur consented, but the baker said he must have a deed
made by a notary. So they sent for the notary and the deed
was made, and the Seigneur signed it on the wash-basin.
The baker waved his wand backwards, the " tiens-bon-la "
was broken, and they all went away happy again, and the
baker's wife never again deceived her husband.
STAR-BOY AND THE SUN DANCE
ONCE long ago when the Blackfeet Indians dwelt on
the Canadian prairies, it happened that a band of
the people were camped near the mountains. It was
spring-time, and the warm winds blew over the prairies laden
with the scent of wild flowers. One hot cloudless night two
girls slept in the long prairie grass beside their tents with no
covering but the sky. The elder awoke before dawn and saw
the Morning Star just rising. Very beautiful and bright he
looked in the clear morning air, with no smoke or dust to
hide him. The girl looked long at the Star, and she had
strange fancies, and imagined that he was her lover. At last
she called her sister and said, " Look at the Morning Star.
He is bright and wise. I love only the Morning Star for he
is more beautiful than man."
One day in the autumn when the flowers were faded and
the grass was yellow with age and the cool winds blew over
the prairie and the birds were flying south, as the girl was
returning home from a long walk she met a young man on
the trail. In his hair was a yellow plume, and in his hand
a small shrub with a big spider-web hanging to it. He was
very beautiful, and he wore fine clothes of soft skins, and the
12
STAR-BOY AND THE SUN DANCE 13
odour of his dress was that of the sweet-grass and the pine.
As the girl drew aside from the trail to pass, he put forth his
hand and stopped her. " Stand aside," she said, "and let me
pass." But he answered, " I am the Morning Star. One
night in spring when the flowers were blooming, I saw you
sleeping in the long grass outside your tent, and I loved you.
I heard you say you loved only me, and now I have come to
ask you to come with me to the sky to the home of my father,
the Sun, where we shall live together and you will have
no more troubles nor cares. It is the Land of Little People,
the Land of the Ever- Young, where all are happy like
children, and no one ever grows old." Then the girl remem
bered the hot cloudless night in the spring-time when she
slept in the tall grass, and she knew now that Morning Star
was to be her husband.
And she said, " I must first say good-bye to my father
and mother." But Morning Star said, " There must be no
leave-taking," and he would not let her go home. He
fastened his yellow plume in her hair, and gave her the shrub
to hold. He told her to place her feet upon the lowest strand
of the spider's web and to hold the uppermost strand in her
hands. Then he told her to shut her eyes. After a brief
time when he asked her to open her eyes, they were in the
sky. They passed on to a large tent. Morning Star said,
" This is the home of my father and mother, the Sun and the
Moon," and he asked her to enter. As it was day, the Sun
H CANADIAN WONDER TALES
was away on his long journey, but the Moon was at home
and she welcomed the girl as her son's bride. And the girl
lived happy in the Star country with her husband, and she
learned many wonderful things. Not far from her home,
near the tent of the Spider Man who weaved webs, a large
turnip was growing about which she wondered greatly. But
the Moon seeing her wonder said, "You may dig any roots
that grow in the sky, but I warn you not to dig up the large
turnip. If you do, unhappiness will follow you."
After a time a son was born to the girl, and everywhere
the girl went she carried the child. She called him Star-Boy.
She often saw the large turnip near the tent of the Spider
Man who weaved webs, but mindful of the Moon's warning,
she was afraid to touch it. One day, however, her wonder
overcame her, and she decided to see what was underneath
the turnip. She tried to pull it up but it stuck fast, and she
was unable to move it. Then two large cranes, flying from
the east, came to her aid, and catching the turnip with their
long bills they moved it from side to side, loosened it, and
pulled it up. The girl looked through the hole, and saw the
earth far beneath her. It was the same hole through which
Morning Star had brought her to the sky. She looked long
through the hole, and she saw the camps of her people, the
Blackfeet, on the plains far below. What she saw was well
known to her. It was summer on the prairies. The men
were playing games ; the women were tanning skins or
THE GIRL LOOKED THROUGH THE HOLE. AND SAW THE EARTH FAR BENEATH HER.
STAR-BOY AND THE SUN DANCE 15
gathering berries on the rolling hills. She grew very lonely
as she watched, for she wanted to be back on the green
prairies with her own people, and when she turned away to
go home she was crying bitterly.
When she reached home, Morning Star and his Mother
the Moon were waiting for her. Morning Star at once knew
from her face what had happened, and he said, "You have
pulled up the sacred turnip." When she did not answer, the
Moon said, " I warned you not to dig it up, because I love
Star-Boy and I do not wish to part with him." It was day,
and the Sun was away on his long journey. When he came
home in the evening, he asked what was the matter with his
daughter for she looked sad and troubled. And the girl
answered that she was lonely because she had looked down
that day upon her people on the plains. Then the Sun was
very angry, and said to Morning Star, "If she has disobeyed,
she must go back to her people. She cannot live here."
Morning Star and the Moon pleaded with the Sun to let her
remain, but the Sun said that it was better that she should go
back to the prairies, for she would no longer he happy in
the sky.
Then Morning Star led the girl to the house of the
Spider Man who had weaved the web that had drawn her up
to the sky. He placed Star-Boy on her breast, and wrapped
around them both a bright robe. Then he bade them fare
well, saying, "We will let you down where your people on the
16 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
plains can see you as you fall." Then the Spider Man with
his web let her down as she had come, through the hole in
the sky.
It was a hot still evening in midsummer when the girl
returned to her people. Many of the people were outside
their tents, and they saw a bright light in the northern sky.
They watched it slowly drop until it reached the ground.
They thought it was a shooting star. They ran to the place
where the bright light fell, and there they found a strange
bundle, inside of which were the woman and her child. Her
parents knew her, and she returned with them to their home
and lived with them. But she was never happy. Often she
took Star-Boy to the top of a high hill in the west, where she
sat and mourned for her home in the sky. And daily she
watched Morning Star rise from the plains. Once she
begged him to take her back to the country of the stars, but
he answered, " You disobeyed, and therefore I cannot take
you back. Your sin is the cause of your sorrow, and it has
brought great trouble to you and your people."
So the Star-woman lived alone and unhappy upon the
earth because she had disobeyed. After a time she died, and
her son, Star-Boy, was left alone. Although born in the
home of the Sun, he was very poor. He had little of the
world's goods, and but few clothes to wear. He was so timid
that he never played with other children, and he lived much
by himself. On his face was a strange scar which became
STAR-BOY AND THE SUN DANCE 17
more marked as he grew older. Because of this and his shy
and timid ways, he was laughed at by everybody ; other boys
stoned him and abused him and called him Scarface.
When Star-Boy became a man he loved a girl of his own
people. She was very beautiful, and many young men
wanted to marry her, but she refused them all. She told
Star-Boy that she would not marry him until he removed the
strange scar from his face. He was much troubled by this
answer and he talked about it to an old medicine-woman who
knew many things. The medicine-woman told him that the
scar had been placed on his face by the Sun and that only the
Sun himself could take it off. So he decided to go to the
home of the Sun.
He went across the prairies and over the mountains for
many days, meeting many dangers and suffering great hard
ships. At last he came to the Great Water in the West —
the Pacific Ocean. For three days and nights he lay on the
sand fasting and praying to the Sun God. On the evening
of the fourth day he saw a bright trail leading across the
water to the west. He ran along this path across the water
until he came at last to the home of the Sun, where he hid
himself and waited. Early next morning the Sun came out
of his tent, ready for his day's journey. He saw Star-Boy,
but he did not know him, for Star-Boy had grown since
he left the country of the stars. The Sun was angry when he
saw a creature from earth, and calling his wife, the Moon, he
i8 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
said, "We will kill him, for he comes from a good-for-
nothing race." But the Moon, being kind, prevented it and
saved the boy's life. Then Morning Star, the boy's father,
handsome and bright, came from his tent. He recognized
his child. And, after the usual fashion in the sky, he brought
dried sweet-grass and burned it so that the smoke curled
around the boy and cleansed him from the dust of the earth.
Then he brought him to his father and mother, the Sun and
the Moon, and told them who the boy was. And Star-Boy
told his story of his long journey, and of the marriage re
fusal of the girl he loved because of the scar on his face.
And they took pity on him, and promised to help him.
Star-Boy lived in the home of the Sun and Moon with
Morning Star. Once he went hunting and killed seven large
birds which had threatened the life of his father. He gave
four of the dead birds to the Sun and three to the Moon.
And the Sun, glad to be rid of these pests, resolved to pay
him well for his work. As a reward, he took the scar from
his face, as the medicine-woman had said. And he made him
his messenger to the Blackfeet people on the Canadian plains,
and promised that if they would give a festival in his honour
once a year, he would heal their sick. The festival was to be
known as the Sun Dance. He taught Star-Boy the secrets
of the dance and the songs to be used in it, so that he could
tell his people. And he gave him two raven feathers to wear,
as a sign that he came from the Sun, and a very wonderful
STAR-BOY AND THE SUN DANCE 19
robe. And he gave him a magic flute and a wonderful song,
with which he could charm the heart of the girl he loved.
So Star-Boy returned to his people, the Blackfeet of the
plains, running along by the Milky Way, the short, bright
path to the earth. When he had taught them the secret
of the Sun Dance, he married the girl he loved, and the Sun
took them back to live with him in the sky. And he made
him bright and beautiful, just like his father Morning Star,
and gave him work to do. Sometimes the father and son can
be seen together in the sky ; the people of earth sometimes
call the father Venus, and the son Jupiter, but Indians call
them Morning Star and Little Morning Star. And since
that time, once a year, the Blackfeet of the plains hold the
Sun Dance that their sick may all be healed, as it was
promised to Star-Boy by the Sun God in the old days.
JACK AND HIS MAGIC AIDS
T~ "iHERE was once a poor widow who had but one
child, a son, Jack by name. Her husband had left
-*- her money when he died, but in a few years it was
all used up. Jack was a silly fellow ; he was always doing
stupid things and was of no help to his mother, although
his father had said that some day he would do great deeds.
Soon the widow became very poor. She lived on a large
farm rented from a greedy landlord who lived in the town
near by. The rent had to be paid once a year, and when
pay day was drawing near, she found she had no money
to give the landlord. She had several fine cows, so she
thought she would sell one and get money to pay her rent.
One morning she sent Jack off to market with the finest
cow she had. As Jack drove the cow along, he passed a
house standing in the forest near the road. A man sitting
on the steps called to him. "Where are you going with
the cow?" he asked. "I am driving her to market to sell
her," answered Jack. The man asked him to come in and
rest a while, and Jack tied the cow to a tree and went in.
Then the man said, "You must give the cow to me." But
Jack answered, " I cannot give her to you ; I will sell her to
20
'WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH THE COW?"
JACK AND HIS MAGIC AIDS 21
you, for my mother needs the money." The man asked
Jack to have something to eat, and placed before him on
the table a plateful of food. Jack ate heartily, but the food
did not grow less. He ate and ate and could not stop.
Soon he became so full that he was almost bursting, but the
food had grown no smaller, and he could not stop eating,
although he tried very hard. He called to the man to take
away the food. But the man answered, " If you will give
me your cow, I will take away the plate ; if not, you may
eat away." So Jack agreed to give him the cow, for he was
afraid he would burst from overeating, and in return for the
cow the man gave him the dish of magical food. Then he
went back home.
When he reached home, his mother asked him for the
money from the sale of the cow. But he told her he had
been robbed of the cow by the man in the forest. She
scolded him, and called him many harsh names, and took
the broom to beat him. But when she took hold of him, he
placed a little of the magical food in her mouth, and his
mother, charmed with the taste, at once asked for more. He
gave her the dish, and just as he had done at the man's
house, she ate and ate until she too was almost bursting,
but she could not stop. When she pleaded with him to take
the food away, he said, " I will take it away if you will not
beat me," and she agreed.
The next morning his mother sent Jack off to market
22 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
with another cow. He passed the same house as on the
previous day, and the same man was again sitting on the
steps. The man asked him for the cow, but Jack, remember
ing what had happened the day before, hurried on without
reply. Then the man took off the belt he was wearing and
threw it down in the middle of the road. At once the belt
leaped around both Jack and the cow, tying both tightly
together. The man said he would let them free if Jack would
give him the cow. But Jack refused. Then the belt began
to tighten slowly ; it got tighter and tighter, pressing Jack to
the cow until he could hardly draw his breath. At last, when
he could stand it no longer, he agreed to give up the cow,
and the man set him free. In return Jack received the magic
belt. When he reached home, his mother again asked him
for the money from the sale of the cow. When he told her
that he had again been robbed, she was more angry than
before ; she called him harsh names again, and rushed at him
saying she would kill him. But Jack unclasped his magic
belt, threw it on the floor, and at once it leaped around his
mother, tying her hand and foot. As the belt became
tighter and tighter, his mother began to gasp for breath,
and cried out to be set free. But Jack said, " I will untie
you, if you promise not to beat me." So his mother, almost
smothered, agreed. Then he untied her, and she kept her
promise.
As the rent-day was near at hand, his mother resolved to
JACK AND HIS MAGIC AIDS 23
try once more to sell a cow, and the next morning Jack was
again sent to market driving the third cow. As he passed
the same house by the side of the forest road, the man who
had already taken two cows from him sat on the steps. He
asked Jack to give him the cow he was driving, just as he had
done before. But in answer, Jack picked up a large stone and
threw it in anger at the man's head. The man dodged the
stone, and took from his pocket a small flute and began to
play it. In spite of his efforts to keep still, Jack began to
dance. The cow joined in the jig, and both danced and
danced up and down the road and could not stop. They
danced until Jack was tired out, but he could not stop,
although he tried hard. He pleaded with the man to stop
playing the flute. The man said, "I will stop if you will give
me your cow." But Jack had already lost two cows and he
refused. "Then dance away," said the man, and Jack danced
until he was almost dropping. Finally he agreed to give up
the cow. The dance was stopped, and in return for the cow,
Jack received the magic flute.
When he reached home and told his mother that he had
been robbed a third time, her rage knew no bounds. She
said she would surely kill him this time, but as she sprang
upon him, he began to play his flute. His mother began to
dance, and when she ordered him to stop playing, he said,
" I will stop if you promise not to beat me." At first she
refused, but as she danced until she was very tired, she finally
24 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
agreed, and Jack escaped punishment. He found too that by
playing another tune, he could call with his flute a great
swarm of wasps which could not be seen by anyone but him
self and which would obey all his commands.
The next day was the rent-day, and there was no money
to pay the landlord. The widow was troubled, but Jack said,
" I will pay him ; be not troubled." Soon the landlord and
his servant drove up to the widow's house. When they
entered the house, the widow hid herself, for she did not want
to meet the cruel landlord without her rent. But Jack met
them and politely gave them seats. Then he offered them
food after their long drive, and placed before them the dish of
magical meat. And they ate and ate, just as Jack and his
mother had done, and could not stop. At last they were
almost bursting with the food, which grew no less on the dish,
and they pleaded with Jack to take the dish away. Jack
replied, " I will take it away if you will give up the farm to
my mother, for we have paid you more rent than the farm is
worth." Finally the landlord, fearing he would burst, agreed.
Jack removed the food, and the landlord returned to the
town, leaving the farm to Jack and his mother.
Jack soon left the farm and all upon it to his mother, and
started out to make his own fortune, taking with him his
magic dish, belt and flute. He travelled far, and came at
last to a town where a great man lived who had one beautiful
daughter. She had many suitors, but she said that she
JACK AND HIS MAGIC AIDS 25
would marry the man who could make her laugh three times.
Jack resolved to make the trial, and went to the man's house.
He was an awkward, ugly fellow, and the girl looked on him
with great disgust, but she consented to let him make the
trial. First Jack produced his magical dish, and offered it to
the girl. She tasted the food and liked it so well that she ate
more. She ate and ate as all who had eaten from it had done
before her, until she cried out to have it taken away. But
Jack would take it away on one condition — she must first
laugh. Finally, when she too was almost bursting, she
agreed, but she said to herself, " He will not make me laugh
a second time."
As soon as Jack had taken away the dish, the girl and
her servants rushed upon him to punish him. But he threw
down his magic belt, and at once they were all bound together
in a heap, tied from head to foot. They begged to be untied.
" I will untie you," said Jack to the girl, " if you will laugh."
At first the girl refused, but as the belt slowly tightened, and
she could stand it no longer, she agreed, and laughed feebly.
Then Jack let them go.
No sooner were they set free than they rushed at Jack
again to punish him. But he began to play on his flute, and
at once the whole company began to dance. When they
grew tired, they tried to stop, but they could not. They
begged him to stop playing, but he replied, "I will stop when
the girl laughs." For a long time she refused, but when she
26 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
became so weary of the dance that she could scarcely stand
up she agreed, and laughed the third time.
Before Jack could claim her, her father heard what had
happened, and he ordered Jack to be brought before him.
When he saw such an ugly fellow, he too was disgusted, and
said that Jack must be secretly put to death. So poor Jack
was seized unexpectedly before he could use his magic aids
and thrown into a cage of wild beasts. But when the beasts
rushed upon him to eat him up he threw down his magic
belt, and they were all tied up in a heap, while Jack escaped
from the cage.
Meanwhile a very rich man had won the hand of the
man's daughter. On the day of the wedding Jack went again
to the man's house and waited. Just as the wedding cere
mony was to begin, Jack went in ; he sat behind a door in the
corner and played a soft tune on his magic flute and called up
a great swarm of wasps. The wasps could not be seen by
any eyes but Jack's, but they swarmed into the room. Jack
told them to sting the rich man waiting at the altar to be the
girl's husband. At once the man, feeling them stinging, but
unable to see anything, began to jump and scream like a
madman. The people looked on in terror, believing that he
had become suddenly crazy. The man jumped and yelled
and slapped himself, until the girl declared that she would
not marry a madman, and her father led her away and the
people went out in great disorder. As the girl's father went
JACK AND HIS MAGIC AIDS 27
out, he saw Jack sitting behind the door. He was surprised
to see that he had escaped from the wild beasts' cage, for he
believed that the beasts had eaten him up. He knew too that
in some mysterious way Jack had been the cause of the
uproar. Then the servants brought him word that the beasts
in the cage were all tied up, and could not be set free. The
man then knew that Jack had great power, so he sent for him
and said, " You are a very wonderful man ; you have won my
daughter." So with great joy and splendour the wedding
took place. Jack built a great house, and when the girl's
father died, he received all his lands, and he lived happy ever
afterwards with his bride, because of the magic dish and belt
and flute he had taken in exchange for his cows.
THE BAD INDIAN'S ASHES
IN the old days when giants roamed along the North
Pacific Coast, there lived on the banks of a great river
a poor Indian woman. She was the daughter of a dead
chief — a great man — but she had fallen on evil days. Against
her parents' wishes, she had married a worthless fellow ; he
was lazy and useless, and she was very poor and unhappy.
One night a son was born to her. It was a wild stormy
night ; the winds roared, the thunder crashed, and terrible
lightnings forked the sky. The boy was born with strange
marks upon him, and on his head were horns like sharp
arrow-points. The wise men of the place shook their heads
and said, " No good can come from him ; he will come to
a bad end."
As the boy grew up, it was seen that the prophecy of the
wise men would surely come true. He was very wicked, and
he soon became known for his bad deeds. He was the terror
of all the country on the Pacific Coast. But his mother
loved him well, for he was her only child, and she petted him
like a baby, even after he was a big boy. He did not take
kindly to his mother's caresses, and when she petted him
he always grew angry and said, " Don't pet me, I am not
28
00°
THE BAD INDIAN.
THE BAD INDIAN'S ASHES 29
a baby." One day as she petted him, he became very cross as
was his habit, and in his rage he ran the arrow-points of his
head into her breast and killed her. Then he took to the
woods, and lived as an outlaw in the forest. He robbed all
who came his way, until he had a great store of goods hidden
in a secret place. His hand was against everybody's, and
everybody's was against his.
Soon the tale of his crimes spread all over the North
Pacific Coast, and he was held in great fear. The Chief of
the people called a meeting of his wise council to decide what
should be done. They resolved that he must be killed and
the land rid of his terrors. So they drew lots to see who
should seek him in the forest. The lot fell to his uncle — the
brother of his mother — a very brave man. And the uncle
set out into the woods to seek his wicked nephew, who was
known as " the arrow-headed one."
The outlaw had found a cave in the forest, and there
he lived in security. He killed everybody who came near it,
and he marked on his spear a notch for each one he killed.
In a very short time the notches on his spear numbered fifty.
He heard of the council of the wise men and of their effort to
capture him, and that his uncle had drawn the lot for the task.
He resolved to defend himself against an attack, and he made
his cave as strong as he could. He thought that his uncle
would come to the cave in search of him.
But his uncle was a very wise old Indian. He knew
30 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
better than to attack his nephew's stronghold. Instead, he
too selected a cave and turned it into a fort. He took
bundles of dry grass and leaves, and shaped them like men,
and stood them up around his cave like soldiers always on
guard. And he told all the people of the village to stay
in hiding until "the arrow-headed-one" was killed. Then he
waited alone in his cave.
For several nights "the arrow-headed-one" stayed in his
cave waiting for his uncle's attack. But no attack was made.
Then he grew tired of waiting, and in a spirit of recklessness
and daring he resolved to attack his uncle, for he knew that
he was in the cave hardby. He took his spear and bow and
arrows, and went to his uncle's cave to kill him. He took
with him his helping evil spirit in the form of a small bird
about the size of a robin. When he came to the cave, he
thought that one of the dummy grass men was his uncle and
he hurled his spear at it. And while he was about it, his
uncle, hidden behind a rock, shot a poisoned arrow at him
and wounded him so badly that he fled back to his own cave.
The small bird sucked the poison from his wound, but the
wound left him very weak. His uncle had followed in his
tracks, and soon came upon him. But " the arrow-headed-
one," tired out because of his wound, had little stomach for a
fight, and when his uncle entered the cave, he pleaded with
him not to kill him. " Do not kill me," he said, " I have
a great store of goods hidden in the cave. If you spare me,
SO THEY DREW LOTS TO SEE WHO SHOULD SEEK HIM IN THE FOREST.
THE BAD INDIAN'S ASHES 31
I will give you all and make you rich. And I will never kill
another person."
But his uncle resolved to put him to death because he had
killed his mother and had so many notches on his spear. So
he killed him and dragged his body outside and burned it.
Then he went home. " Fear no longer," he said to the
villagers, "'the arrow-headed-one' is dead." But the evil that
the bad Indian had done lived after him. The four winds
drove his ashes from the spot where his body was burned.
The ashes blew everywhere, and were changed into the little
black flies whose descendants to-day torment people in the
summer in the northern woods of Canada. And the bad
Indian's wickedness still lives in the black flies that came
from his ashes.
THE MERMAID OF THE MAGDALENES
FAR off the north-east coast of Canada is a group of
rugged islands called the Magdalenes. They are a
lonely, barren group, where grass and flowers and
trees grow scantily. There, the northern storms rage with
their wildest fury, and the sea breaks with its greatest force
upon the bleak rocks. Numberless birds of strange cries and
colours fly constantly about. On days when the storm dashes
the sea white and angry against the coast, even the thunder
of the surf is almost shut out by the screaming of countless
gulls ; and on clear days the sun is hidden when the birds
rise in clouds from their nests. The " Isle of Birds," the
Jesuits called one of the islands when they first visited the
group hundreds of years ago, and it is an "Isle of Birds"
still. It is a wild and rock-bound desolate land.
But although the islands are barren of grass and flowers
and trees, the waters around and between them are rich in
fish. "The Kingdom of Fish,1' men call the place, for
adventurous traders grow wealthy there reaping the harvest
of the sea. The greatest product of the waters is the lobster.
He always inhabited these northern seas, and about his power
in olden times strange tales are told. Away off the coast of
32
' r^^
H *
/"«
• ' "T. ••• * V
A MEETING OF ALL THE FISH IN THE SEA WAS CALLED.
THE MERMAID OF THE MAGDALENES 33
one of the islands, you can still see on fine moonlight nights
in May, and also during the day once a year, a maiden
holding a glass in her hand, combing her long hair, and
looking wistfully to the land. Sometimes, too, on calm
nights you can still hear her strange song above the murmur
of the waves. She is the phantom lady of the Island over whom
the Lobster in far away days used his power. She is now a
prisoner in the deep, held there as a punishment for her deeds.
Now, it happened that long ago when fish were first
canned for food there was a great slaughter of sardines — the
tiny fish of the sea — by cruel money-greedy traders who
caught them, packed them in small boxes, and shipped them
to far countries, just as they do to-day. These traders
received large money rewards for their labour, for people all
over the world liked the little fish and paid a high price for
them. The sardines saw their number slowly growing
smaller, for, being little, they were helpless against their
captors, and among all their family there was great sorrow.
In despair they asked the big fish of the sea to help them. At
last, in answer to their appeal, a meeting of all the fish in the
sea was called. Here the big fish took an oath to help their
small cousins in their struggle with man, and to punish when
they could all who ate or fished the sardine family. And the
little fish rejoiced greatly.
One May day a large ship loaded with packed fish was
wrecked on the sunken rocks of the Magdalene Islands.
D
34 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
Soon the ship was broken up by the heavy surf on the sharp
reef, and her cargo was strewn along the shore. It happened
that in the cargo were many boxes of sardines, and they too
were washed up on the beach by the tide. In the evening,
after the sea had calmed, a fair maiden who lived on the
Island with her father, a fish trader, walked along the shore
alone to view the wreckage of the broken ship. She found,
to her delight, one of the boxes in which the sardines were
packed. She resolved at once to eat the contents, for she too,
like all the world at that time, liked the little fish. But
although she tried as hard as she could, she was unable
to open the box. She sat by the side of the sea and sang a
song of lament, calling on anyone who could to open the box
for her. She sang :
" I love sardines when they're boiled with beans
And mixed with the sands of the sea."
Away out from the beach a skate-fish was resting on a sand
bar. Hearing the song of the maiden, he quickly swam
towards the shore. When he came close enough to hear the
words of the song and to know what the box contained, he
swam away in great disgust, for he was cousin to the sardines
in the box, and came from the same family tree as they. But
he was too timid to try to punish the maiden. Then a bold
merman heard the song. He had long looked for a land wife
to live with him in his home under the sea ; now he said,
THE MERMAID OF THE MAGDALENES 35
" Here at last is a shore maiden for me," for the voice of the
singer was beautiful to him. So he went to his looking-glass
to dress himself in the most genteel fashion. From bright
clean sea-weeds and sea-leaves he quickly made himself a new
suit, all green and yellow ; and he covered his feet with
bright-coloured shells, and his neck with pearls which the
oyster gave him ; and dressing himself carefully, he hastened
in the direction of the song. But when he came close enough
to hear the words and to know what the box contained, he
remembered his oath at the great gathering of the fish, and
although he loved the singer he swam hurriedly away. For,
like the skate-fish, he too feared to try to punish the maiden.
The maiden was now sore distressed, for it was growing
late and the moon was already far up in the sky. The box
was still unopened, and the girl was hungry for the fish.
Going to the edge of the sea, she knocked the box hard
against a large rock that lay in the water, hoping thereby to
break it open. But the box would not break. Now, it
chanced that under the rock a large black lobster lay sleeping
quietly after a long battle with an enemy in the sea. The
tapping on the roof of his sleeping-place awoke him, and he
rubbed his eyes and listened. The maiden was again singing
her song : —
" Oh I love sardines when they're boiled with beans,
And mixed with the sands of the sea.
I am dying for some. Will nobody come
And open this box for me ? "
36 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
Then the Lobster remembered his oath at the great gathering
of the fish. Unlike the skate-fish and the merman, he had
no fear of the maiden, for he knew his power. He determined
to punish her, and he resolved at once upon a crafty trick.
He came out of his hiding place, and waving his claw politely
he said, " Fair lady, I can open the box for you ; give it to
me and let me try." But when, in answer, she held the box
out towards him in her hand, he grasped her by the wrist with
his strong claw, and, holding her fast, he swam with her far
out to sea. Where he went and what he did with her, no
man knows. It is believed that he sold her to the merman
who had long sought a shore-wife, and that she is still being
slowly changed into a fish. One thing is certain, — she never
came back to land. But on the first day of May she always
appears on the water away off the coast of the Island ; and if
that day is fine and clear you can still always see her there.
She holds in her hand a looking-glass in which in the sun
light she looks at herself to see if she is nearer to a fish than
she was on May Day the year before when she last appeared
in the sun ; and she is combing her long hair which is now
covered with pearls ; and she looks with longing eyes to the
shore and her old home. And sometimes on moonlight
nights in May, when the wind is still and the sea is
calm, the fishermen hear her strange sad song across the
waters. They know then that she is lonely, and that she is
singing her song to lure land-comrades for company to
THE MERMAID OF THE MAGDALENES 37
her side. And on these nights they stay on shore, for
they know that if they venture out to sea she will seize
them and carry them off for playmates to her home of bright
shells far under the sea.
THE BOY AND THE DANCING FAIRY
ENG ago two Indian boys lived in the Canadian forest
with their parents. One boy was much older and
larger and stronger than the other. He forced his
little brother to do all the hard work about the place. He
stole from him all the good things his parents gave him and
often he beat him until he cried with pain. If the little boy
told his parents of his brother's cruelty, his brother beat him
all the harder, and the little boy found that it was more
to his comfort not to complain. But at last he could stand
the cruelty no longer, and he decided to run away from home.
So one morning he took his bow and arrows and an extra
pair of moccasins, and set out alone to seek his fortune and to
find a kinder world.
Although the boy was small and young, he could run
very fast. He could run so fast that when he shot an arrow
from his bow, he could outstrip the arrow in its flight. So he
ran along very quickly, and when night came on he was very
far from home. He was lonely too, for he thought of the
bright warm camp fires in the twilight at home, and of his
father and mother, and he wished he was back again in his
own soft bed. He was frightened too by the strange noises,
38
THE BOY AND THE DANCING FAIRY 39
and every sound startled him. At last when he was about to
cry in his loneliness, an old man came along. The man was
very old but he had a kindly face, all wrinkled and weather-
beaten, and twinkling eyes that told of a merry heart.
" Hello," he said to the boy, "where are you from, and where
are you going?" "I have come a long way," said the boy,
" and I am very tired and lonesome and far from home, and I
don't know where I am going. I am looking for a pleasant
land." "You look like a good boy," said the old man ; "you
say you have come a long way, but I have come much farther
than you, and from a very pleasant place. When I began my
journey I was young like you. I have never stopped, and
now you see that I am very old and bent and wrinkled, while
there is not a line in your face. I have travelled a very long
road, the road of Long Life." Then the boy said, " I want to
go to the place you came from since it is pleasant." But the
old man answered, " You can never reach it ; it is the Land of
Youth ; the Childhood Land, men call it, and those who
leave it never go back. It is a land of wonderful sights and
sounds and dreams. It can be reached only from the road
on the other side ; you have passed that road and it is too
late for you now to go back to it." Then they were silent for
a long time, and the boy looked at the old man and wondered.
He saw that the old man's shoes were worn out from his long
journey and that his feet were sore and weary. So he gave
him the extra pair of moccasins he carried. The old man was
40 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
very thankful. He gave the boy a little box he had in his
pocket and he said, " Take this box ; you will find it will help
you in times of need, and it will be useful to you in your
travels. I am near the end of my journey, and I shall need it
no more. You have a long journey before you." The boy
put the box in his pocket and lay down to sleep. Then the
old man went on his way, and the boy never saw him again.
The next morning, before the boy began his day's journey,
he wondered what was in the box the old man had given him.
He took it out and opened it. Inside was a little man no
bigger than his own thumb, dancing as hard as he could.
As soon as the cover was opened and light entered the box,
the little man stopped dancing and called to the boy, " What
do you want?" The boy knew then that the old man had
given him a little fairy to help him in his need. He closed
the box and answered, " I wish to be carried far away to
a beautiful land where I can get a lovely girl for a comrade,
for I am very lonely." At once darkness came upon him and
he slept. When he awoke he found he had been asleep but a
few seconds, but he was now in a large village in a beautiful
land. It was a land of trees and flowers and wonderful
streams, where many birds were singing. He came to a house
on the border of the village and entered it. Inside was a very
old woman ; she was the only person in the house. When
she saw the boy, she began to cry. He asked her why she
was weeping. She answered, " I know why you have come
THAT NIQHT WHEN ALL THE VILLAGE WAS ASLEEP.
THE BOY WENT TO THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN.
THE BOY AND THE DANCING FAIRY 41
here. I knew from a dream that you were coming. You
have come to seek a very lovely girl as your wife and comrade.
She lives in the village. Her father is very rich. He is
a great Chief. He asks that each man who seeks to win his
daughter must do very hard and dangerous and impossible
tasks. If they fail they are put to death. The girl has had
many suitors, but all have failed to do her father's tasks and
all have been killed. You too will fail and you will surely
die." Then the old woman cried louder than before. But
the boy said, " I can do any task he sets for me. He cannot
kill me." For the boy knew that the dancing fairy would
save him.
Soon the boy went to the Chief's house to ask him for his
lovely daughter. The Chief told him the conditions on
which she could be won. He said that all her suitors had to
try to do hard tasks. If they failed they were put to death ;
the suitor who succeeded should win his daughter. The boy
agreed to do as he wished. The Chief said, " The mountain
before my house keeps me from seeing the sun in the morn
ings. You must take it away before you can win my daughter.
If you fail you shall be put to death." The boy said he would
take away the mountain that night, but the Chief did not
think he could do it.
That night when all the village was asleep the boy went
to the foot of the mountain. It was a high granite hill, with
great trees growing on its top. The boy took out his box
42 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
and opened it. The little fairy was dancing as hard as he
could, but when he saw the light he stopped and said, "What
do you want ?" And the boy said, " I want you to take away
this mountain before morning." " It shall be done," said the
little man. Then the boy closed the box and lay down and
went to sleep. He slept soundly all night. When he awoke
in the early morning the mountain was gone. All around
was only a level meadow. The sun was still low in the
eastern sky, but all the village could see it. When the Chief
awoke, he wondered greatly. He thought he had lost his
daughter at last. But he decided to set another hard task
for the boy to do.
Soon the boy went to the Chief to claim his bride. But
the Chief said, " You must do another task for me. Not far
away there is a village where my enemies live. They have
caused me great trouble. You must destroy the village and
drive all the people away before you can win my daughter.
If you fail to do it to-night, you shall be put to death to
morrow." The boy agreed to do as he wished. And the
Chief thought the boy would surely be killed in making the
attempt.
That night the boy set out for the distant village. He
ran very fast and soon reached the border of it. Then he
took out his box and opened it. The fairy stopped dancing
and said, "What do you want?" "I want you to destroy
this village to-night and drive all the people away," said the
THE BOY AND THE DANCING FAIRY 43
boy. " It shall be done," said the fairy. Then the boy closed
the box and went to sleep under a tree. He slept soundly all
night. In the morning when he awoke, there was no village
in sight. All around him was silence ; not a sound of life
came to him but the sounds of the forest ; the village had
been destroyed in the night and all its people were now far
away. Then the boy went back and told the Chief that he
had done the deed. The Chief sent a messenger to see if the
boy spoke the truth, and the messenger came back and said
that the task had been done. Then the Chief knew that he
was beaten. He knew that the boy had very great power
which he could not understand, and he said, " You may take
my lovely daughter." So the boy took the girl as his wife
and comrade. The Chief gave them a great lodge to live
in and servants to wait on them, and they were very happy.
But their happiness was soon ended for a time. One day
the boy went away with many others to hunt far in the forest.
He put on a hunting suit, but he forgot to take his magic
box along with him. He left it behind in the pocket of his
coat. In the house was a wicked servant who wanted the
boy's possessions for himself. One day he had seen his
master opening the box and talking to it. He wondered
what his master meant and what was in the box. When his
master had gone hunting, the servant went to hang up his
clothes. He found the box in the coat pocket. He took it
out and opened it. Inside, the little man was dancing as
44
hard as he could. When he saw the light, he stopped and
said, "What do you want?" The servant knew that at last
he had found the secret of his master's power. "What do
you want me to do?" repeated the little man. The man
servant said, " I want you at once to remove this house and
all it contains to some place far away." Then he closed the
box. At once there was darkness, and when light came again
in a few seconds, the house and all in it were far away in the
depths of the forest. The servant was very pleased.
Soon the hunters came back. They had taken much
game. When the boy came to where his home had been, he
found that his house was gone, and his wife and servants and
all his possessions were gone with it. He knew at once
what had happened. But he knew how to overcome his
wicked servant. He took a magic bow and arrow that his
mother had given him before he left his old home long before.
Then he went out and shot his arrow into the woods. He
ran as fast as he could, following the arrow. He ran so fast
that he could follow it in its flight. And he kept under the
arrow as it sped on and on. When the arrow dropped far in
the forest, the boy stopped. Not far in front of him he saw
his own house. He hid among the trees until night came.
Then he crept softly to the house. There was not a sound.
Everyone was asleep. He went in, and there, sure enough,
was his coat hanging on a peg. He slipped it on, and in the
pocket he found the magic box. He opened it, and there
THE BOY AND THE DANCING FAIRY 45
was the little man dancing as hard as he could. When the
cover was lifted, the little man stopped and said, "What do
you want ? " The boy said, " I want you at once to take this
house and all it contains back to the village where it was
before." The little man said, " It shall be done." Then the
boy went to sleep. He awoke in the morning before the
others were up, and sure enough the house was back in the
village. Then the boy asked the little man in the box to
punish the wicked servant. And the servant was sent far
away to be a wanderer on the face of the earth ; and he
wanders about to this day, and he is always looking for some
thing that never comes, and he has always beautiful dreams
that never come true.
After that, the boy and his wife lived happily. The boy
never again left the box behind him ; he kept it always with
him. And when he wanted anything, the little fairy always
brought it to him. Soon the old Chief died, and the boy
became Chief in his place. He travelled the road of Long
Life over which the wrinkled old man had come. When he
grew old, he asked the fairy in the box to bring him back to
the Land of Youth, but that was the one thing the dancing
fairy could not do. So at the end of the long road the
old man disappeared over the hill and left his box behind him
with the great deeds it had done.
THE MOUSE AND THE SUN
E^G before the white men came to Canada, and when
the animals ruled the earth, a little boy and his sister
lived alone on the Canadian plains. Their father and
mother died when the children were very young. The
children had no relations, and they were left to look after
themselves. They lived many miles from other people ;
indeed they had never seen any people but their parents,
they lived so far away. The boy was very small ; he was no
bigger than a baby. The girl was large and strong, and she
had to provide food for both of them and do all the work in
the house. She had to take care of her little brother, and she
took him with her wherever she went so that no harm would
come to him. She made him a bow and a number of arrows
to play with. One day in winter she went out to gather
wood for the fire. She took her little brother with her. She
told him to hide while she walked farther on. She said,
" You will soon see a flock of snow birds passing near you if
you watch. Shoot one of them and bring it home." The
snow lay deep on the plains, and many snow birds were
flying around looking for food. The boy tried to shoot them,
but his aim was not good, and he was unable to hit any of
46
THE SNOW LAY DEEP ON THE PLAINS. AND MANY SNOW
BIRDS WERE FLYING AROUND LOOKING FOR FOOD.
THE MOUSE AND THE SUN 47
them. When his sister came back to him, he had no bird
and he was very much ashamed. But his sister said, " Never
mind. Do not be discouraged. You will have better luck
to-morrow."
The next day the girl took her brother with her again
when she went to gather wood. She left him behind at the
place where he had hidden himself the day before. Again
the snow birds came flying past, searching for food. The
boy shot several arrows at them, and at last he killed one.
When his sister came back to him, he showed her the
bird. He was pleased with his success, and he said, " I shall
try to kill one each day. You must skin them and when we
have enough skins, I shall make a coat from them." And
his sister promised to do as he wished. Each day the boy
went with his sister and waited for the snow birds to fly past.
And each day he killed one and took it home. They skinned
the birds and dried the skins. Soon the boy had enough
bird skins to make a coat, for he was very small. A few
bird skins made his coat. His sister sewed the skins
together and the boy put on the coat. He was very proud
of it.
One day the boy said to his sister, " Sister, we are all
alone in the world. We have never seen any other people
except our father and mother. Are there any other people on
the earth?" His sister told him that she had heard from her
mother that other people lived far away to the east beyond
48 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
the mists of the prairie, and that others, from whom his
mother had come, lived away to the west beyond the distant
hills. The boy said, " I should like to see my mother's
people if they are anywhere on the earth." So one day when
his sister was away, he put on his bird-skin coat and took his
bow and arrows and set out towards the distant hills to see
if he could find his mother's people. It was spring-time in
the north country. The sun had melted the snow, and little
streams were flowing and little blades of grass had begun to
peep above the ground. But the earth was soft and wet, and
the day was hot, and warm winds blew over the plains. The
boy walked for a long time. By the time the sun was high
up in the sky, he was very tired for he was very small. He
came to a dry knoll and lay down to rest. Soon he fell
asleep. As he slept, the sun beat down upon him. It was
so hot that it singed his bird-skin coat ; then the coat shrank
and shrank in the heat until it was only a small patch on his
back. When he awoke and stretched himself, he burst his
coat in many places, it had grown so tight. He was very
cross when he saw how the sun had ruined his coat. He
shook his fist at the sun and said, "I will have vengeance ;
you need not think you are too high to escape me. I will
punish you yet." He decided that without his coat he could
not go any farther to seek his mother's people, and at evening
he returned home.
When he reached home, he showed his sister his ruined
"l SHOULD LIKE TO SEE MY MOTHER'S PEOPLE.
THE MOUSE AND THE SUN 49
coat. He was very sad, and for weeks he would scarcely eat
a bite. And all the time he spoke bitterly of the sun. His
sister tried to comfort him. She told him that next winter
when the snow birds came flying south again, he could kill
more of them and she would make him another coat. But for
a long time he would not be comforted. At last he roused
himself. He asked his sister to make him a snare, for he
was going to catch the sun. She made him a snare from a
buffalo-hide cord, but he told her that it would not do. Then
she cut off some of her long black hair, and from it she made
a braided noose. The boy said that it would do very well.
Then he set out to catch the sun. He travelled many days
until he came to the Great Water in the East. It was
summer in the north country, and the sun rose early. The
boy placed his snare just where the sun would strike the land
when he rose at dawn out of the sea, and he watched from a
distance. Sure enough, in the morning just as the sun rose
out of the sea and came above the earth, he was caught in the
snare and held fast. The sun could not rise ; he was held
fast to the earth. The boy was quite pleased with his success.
" Now," he said, " I have punished the sun for ruining my
bird-skin coat." And he returned to his home on the plains.
That day there was no light upon the earth. It was
twilight in all the land. The animals were in great fear and
wonder. The birds fled to their nests, and only the owl came
out to look for food. At last the animals and the birds called
50 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
a council to see what they could do. They found that the
sun was tied to the earth by a snare. They decided that
some one must go up close to the sun and cut the cord that
held him. It was a very dangerous task, for the heat was
very great and any one who tried to cut the cord would
perhaps be burned to death. So they drew lots to see who
should go. The lot fell to Woodpecker. And Woodpecker
went up and picked at the cord with his bill. He tried hard
to cut it, but it was a strong braid of woman's hair and
it could not be cut easily. Woodpecker picked and picked at
it for a long time. At last his head was so badly burned
that he could stand the heat no longer and he had to fly away
without cutting the cord. His head was red from the great
heat. And ever since, poor Woodpecker has had a red head
because the sun singed him when he tried to set him free.
Then the animals called for a volunteer to undertake the
task of cutting the snare. Mouse was at that time the largest
and strongest animal in the world, and he thought that
because of his great strength, it was his duty to attempt the
hard and dangerous task. So he set out. When he reached
the snare, he tried to cut the cord with his teeth, but the cord
was strong and could not be cut easily. The heat was very
great. Mouse would have run away, but he was so big and
strong that he was ashamed to leave the task, for he thought
that the smaller animals would laugh at him. So he stuck to
his work and sawed the cord with his teeth, one hair at
THE MOUSE AND THE SUN 51
a time. Soon his back began to burn and scorch and smoke.
But he stuck to his task. Then he began to melt away
because of the great heat, and the whole top of his body was
burned to ashes. But still he stuck to his task for a long
time, cutting hair after hair. Finally he cut the last hair ;
the snare parted, and the sun was at last free to continue his
day's journey and give light to the world. And the animals
and birds rejoiced greatly over the success of Mouse.
But poor Mouse had melted almost entirely away in the great
heat. When he went up to the snare, he was the largest
animal in the world ; when he came down, he was the smallest.
And his back was burned to ashes. And ever since, Mouse
has been the smallest animal in the world, and his coat has
always been the colour of gray ashes, because he was scorched
when freeing the sun from a snare in the old days.
GLOOSKAPS COUNTRY
IN far back times many centuries before the white men
came from Europe to live in the New World, Eastern
Canada was inhabited by Indians. They were a mighty
race, great in size and strong in battle. Their descendants
live in certain of these parts still, dwelling in settlements of
their own apart from the white folk. You may still see them
in their strange tents or wigwams, making arrows and baskets
and garden-seats. Some of them are still fleet of foot and
can run many miles without tiring. But their real great
ness has long since gone. They have grown smaller in size,
and they are no longer powerful as in the old days. In
early times they were called the Children of Light, for of
all the people in America they dwelt nearest to the sun-rise.
Their great lord and creator was Glooskap. Where he was
himself born, and when, no man knows. From the place of
his birth he sailed across the sea in a great stone canoe to the
part of America nearest to the rising sun. He landed on the
eastern shores of Canada. Far out he anchored his canoe
and it was so large that it became an island, and great trees
grew upon it. When he needed it, it was always ready to do
his bidding, but it always became an island when it was not
52
GLOOSKAP'S COUNTRY 53
in use. On the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, Glooskap dwelt
many years — ages and ages — until one day he sailed away to
the hunting grounds of his fathers far over the sea.
About Glooskap's work many strange tales are told. From
his birth and throughout his long life his deeds were very
wonderful. He was one of twin brothers, the other being
Wolf the son of Wickedness. Glooskap was the son of
Goodness. Their mother died at their birth and the two
children were left alone. Both had magic power which could
keep them from harm, and death could not come to them
except in one way. Glooskap could be killed only by a
flowering rush, and Wolf only by a fern root ; and each alone
knew the secret of his own death. Now it was known before
Glooskap's birth that he should become the Lord of the Land
of the Rising Sun in Canada. But Beaver and Squirrel
who were great in those days — and even before his coming —
were jealous of his power when he arrived, for they them
selves wished to rule the land. They tempted Wolf to kill
his brother, and he being the son of Wickedness would have
been glad of the chance, but he did not know the secret of his
brother's death. One night of bright starlight, Beaver hiding
stealthily among the trees as was his custom, heard Glooskap
boasting to the stars about his charmed life; he could trust the
stars, and he told them that he could be killed only by means
of a flowering rush. Then Beaver hurried away to Wolf ; he
told him that he knew the secret of Glooskap's death and
54 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
that he would tell it if Wolf would give him what he wished.
To this Wolf agreed and Beaver told him what he had heard
Glooskap say to the stars. " What do you want in return for
the secret?" asked Wolf. "Wings like a pigeon," answered
Beaver. But Wolf said, " You have a tail like a file ; what
could you do with wings like a pigeon?" And he laughed at
him scornfully and would not grant him his wish as he had
promised. Thereupon Beaver was very cross and resolved to
have vengeance on Wolf. He went quickly to Glooskap and
told him that Wolf knew the secret of his death and that he
had better be on his guard. The next night Glooskap hid
himself among the trees near to Wolf's tent. He heard Wolf
boasting to the stars about his charmed life, and telling them
the secret of his death, — that he could be killed only by a fern
root. And Glooskap, fearing for his own life, for he had no
faith in the love of Wolf the son of Wickedness, at once
slew his brother with a fern root. Then he changed him
into a mountain, where he sleeps to this day like a huge hill.
Glooskap then ruled the country alone. But soon he grew
lonely without companions and he decided to people his land.
He first made the Fairies and the Elves, and sent them to
dwell in the meadows and tiny streams and among the hills
and caves. Then he took his bow and arrows, and for many
days he shot at the ash trees in the forest. And out of the
bark of the trees at which he shot there came first men whom
he called Indians, the Children of Light. Then came the
GLOOSKAP'S COUNTRY 55
animals — all that had not before lived in his land — and the
birds of the air and the fish of the sea, and he gave them each
a name. At first all the animals were very large, so large that
the head of the deer could touch the tops of the tallest pines.
Even Squirrel could tear down the largest trees in the forest.
One day Glooskap called all the animals to him to learn if
they were friendly to his people. And he said to Bear,
"What would you do if you should meet a man?" And
Bear answered, " I should eat him up." And Glooskap sent
Bear away to the Northland, far from the dwellings of men,
to live on fish from the frozen sea. And he said to Squirrel,
"What would you do if you should meet a man?" And
Squirrel answered, " I should tear down trees on his head."
And Glooskap, fearing for his men because of the strength of
the animals, decided to make the animals smaller. So he
took Squirrel and smoothed his back with his hand for a whole
day, until he became very small as he is now, and he made
him carry his tail on his back that he might thereby use up
some of his strength ; but Squirrel still scratches as in the
old days.
Glooskap made all the animals smaller and weaker than
they were when they were first created. He gave his people
power over them, so that the greatest and strongest of all his
creatures was man. The animals became his friends and the
friends of his people ; they could talk like men and they often
spoke to them, and they were eager to obey Glooskap and to
56 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
help him in his work. Two great wolves became his dogs ;
he could change their size and make them kind or cruel as he
willed. They guarded his tent by day and night and always
followed him about, even swimming behind him when he
went far away over the sea. The Loons of the beach became
his messengers, and one of them — old Tatler — became his
chief tale-bearer. They always brought him news from other
lands over the water and they also kept him well informed
about the deeds of his own people, telling him who were
good and who were evil. Fox too brought him tales from
places deep in the forest, and was one of his most trusted
friends. The Rabbits became the guides of men ; one of
them — old Bunny — was his scout of the woods, and those
who followed him never lost their way. The Partridge built
boats for men and animals, until because of the bird's
stupidity, Glooskap took away his power. The Whale became
his carrier, and old Blob the whale came quickly to his call
and carried him on her back when he wished to go far over
the sea. The Great Eagle made the winds for him ; when
she moved her wings the winds blew ; she could make them
great or gentle as Glooskap commanded, and when Glooskap
tied her wings, the winds were still. Each animal and bird
had special work to do.
Glooskap' s only enemies were Beaver and Badger and
Bull Frog. These always plotted against him and tried to
destroy his power by stirring up strife among his people.
THE GREAT EAGLE MADE THE WINDS FOR HIM.
GLOOSKAFS COUNTRY 57
At last he could be patient with them no longer, and he re
solved to drive Beaver away. One day when Beaver watched
him from a distance, Glooskap scooped up great handfuls of
earth and stones and threw them in anger at his enemy, and
Beaver in great fear because of Glooskap's great power, fled
far away. The earth that Glooskap threw fell into the ocean
and became islands. The spot from which Glooskap had
taken the earth became a beautiful bay. To the shores of
this bay Glooskap moved his tent, and lived there until he
left the earth. When Beaver went away, he built a dam from
a high place on the south to the shore on the north, and he
thought to live there in comfort. But the dam caused the
high tides of the sea to overflow the valley, and it was a
constant source of trouble and fear to the people who lived
near it. Thereupon Glooskap in anger one day broke the
dam and pushed part of it out into the sea. The broken part
which he moved out became a cape stretching into the ocean,
and there you may see it to this day. Then Beaver, knowing
that Glooskap was more powerful than he, troubled him openly
no more, but frequently by stealth he tried to do him harm.
When Bull Frog was first created, he was given power
over all the fresh-water streams in the land. He dwelt in
the stream from which Glooskap's people took water for
their use, — for drinking and cooking. But he too proved
false to Glooskap, and grew vain of his own great power.
Once, that he might show his skill and win a great reputation
58 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
among men, he dried up the water in the stream until only
the mud remained. The people thirsted without fresh water,
and were much distressed, and at last they complained to
Glooskap. Glooskap told them not to worry, for he would
soon set things right. That he might make sure of Bull
Frog's treachery he went himself to the bank of the stream,
and there he asked a boy to bring him water to drink. The
boy searched for water for a whole day, while Glooskap sat on
a log and silently smoked his pipe. At last the boy came
back bringing only a small cup, no larger than a thimble, filled
with dirty water, and said it was all the water he could get.
Glooskap knew then that his people had told him the
truth about Bull Frog's wickedness. In great anger he went
himself to the mud where Bull Frog dwelt and asked for
water. But Bull Frog stubbornly refused to let the water
come forth. Then Glooskap grasped Bull Frog with a mighty
grip and squeezed him tight until he crumpled his back and
made him soft. With great force he hurled him far out into
the mud, and said, "Henceforth you shall live in dirty water ;
and you shall always croak with a dry throat, as a punishment
for your sins." Then with his own magic power he brought
forth water so that the stream flowed again, and the people
all rejoiced. He promised that never again should any crea
ture have power to dry up the streams. And since that time
Bull Frog has lived in muddy pools ; he still croaks, for his
throat is always dry, and to this day his back is wrinkled and
GLOOSKAFS COUNTRY 59
crumpled and bears the marks of Glooskap's mighty fingers.
And since that day the supply of clear fresh water has never
failed in the country and the streams have never dried up.
Glooskap was always kind to his people. He taught the
men how to hunt and how to build huts and canoes. He
taught them what plants were good to eat, and he told them
the names of all the stars. But he did not dwell among his
men. He dwelt apart from them in a great tent, but when
they sought him they always found him. He never married
as they did. There dwelt with him as his housekeeper a very
wise old woman ; her name was Dame Bear, but Glooskap
called her always " grandmother." With him too there lived
a little boy whom Glooskap always called "little brother."
And Glooskap gave him a magic root from the forest by the
use of which he could change his shape into various forms.
Whether or not Dame Bear was really his grandmother or the
little boy his brother, no man knows. But both lived with
him until his death.
Glooskap and Dame Bear and the little boy lived together
for many ages. Glooskap had a magic belt which gave him
power over sickness and hunger and danger and death. And
anyone on whom it was placed was given the same strange
power. And while Glooskap was with them, his people lived
very happily. They never wanted for food or clothing. For
Glooskap was kind to his people and wished them to be
contented and at peace.
WHEN Glooskap first created the animals in Canada,
he took good care that they should all be friendly
to himself and to his people. They could all talk
like men, and like them they had one common speech. Each
had a special duty to do for Glooskap, and each did his best
to help him in his work. Of all the animals, the gentlest
and most faithful was Bunny the Rabbit. Now, in those
first days of his life, Rabbit was a very beautiful animal,
more beautiful than he is to-day. He had a very long bushy
tail like a fox ; he always wore a thick brown coat ; his body
was large and round and sleek ; his legs were straight and
strong ; he walked and ran like other animals and did not hop
and jump about as he does now. He was always very polite
and kind of heart. Because of his beauty and his good quali
ties, Glooskap chose him as his forest guide, his Scout of the
Woods. He gave him power that enabled him to know well
all the land, so that he could lead people and all the other
animals wherever they wished to go without losing their way.
One day in the springtime it chanced that Bunny sat
alone on a log in the forest, his long bushy tail trailing far
behind him. He had just come back from a long scouting
HOW RABBIT LOST HIS TAIL 61
tour and he was very tired. As he sat resting in the sun,
an Indian came along. The Indian was weary and stained
with much travel, and he looked like a wayfarer who had
come far. He threw himself on the ground close to the log
on which Rabbit sat and began to weep bitterly. Bunny with
his usual kindness asked, "Why do you weep ? " And the man
answered, " I have lost my way in the forest. I am on my way
to marry this afternoon a beautiful girl whom her father pledged
to me long ago. She is loved by a wicked forest Fairy and I
have heard that perhaps she loves him. And I know that if
I am late she will refuse to wait for me and that she will
marry him instead." But Rabbit said : " Have no fear. I
am Bunny, Glooskap's forest guide. I will show you the way
and bring you to the wedding in good time." The man
was comforted and his spirits rose, and they talked some time
together and became good friends.
When the man had somewhat got back his strength,
they began their journey to the wedding. But Rabbit, being
nimble-footed, ran fast and was soon so far in advance of his
companion that he was lost to view. The man followed
slowly, catching here and there through the green trees a
glimpse of his guide's brown coat. As he stumbled along,
thinking of his troubles, he fell into a deep pit that lay close to
the forest path. He was too weak to climb out, and he called
loudly for help. Bunny soon missed his follower, but he
heard the man's yells, and turning about, he ran back to the
62 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
pit. " Have no fear," said Rabbit as he looked over the edge,
" I will get you out without mishap." Then, turning his back
to the pit, he let his long bushy tail hang to the bottom.
"Catch hold of my tail," he ordered, "hold on tight and I
will pull you out." The man did as he was told. Rabbit
sprang forward, but as he jumped, the weight of the man, who
was very heavy, was more than he could bear, and poor
Bunny's tail broke off within an inch of the root. The man
fell back into the pit with a thud, holding in his hand poor
Rabbit's tail. But Bunny in all his work as a guide had
never known defeat, and he determined not to know it now.
Holding to a strong tree with his front feet, he put his hind
legs into the pit and said to the man, " Take hold of my legs
and hang on tight." The man did as he was told. Then
Rabbit pulled and pulled until his hind legs stretched and he
feared that they too would break off ; but although the weight
on them was great, he finally pulled the man out after great
difficulty. He found to his dismay that his hind legs had
lengthened greatly because of their heavy load. He was no
longer able to walk straight, but he now had to hop along
with a strange jumping gait. Even his body was much
stretched, and his waist had become very slender because of
his long heavy pull. The two travellers then went on their
way, Bunny hopping along, and the man moving more
cautiously.
Finally, they reached the end of their journey. The
THE PEOPLE WERE ALL GATHERED FOR THE WEDDING.
HOW RABBIT LOST HIS TAIL 63
people were all gathered for the wedding, and eagerly awaiting
the coming of the bridegroom. Sure enough, the forest Fairy
was there, trying by his tricks to win the girl for himself.
But the man was in good time, and he married the maiden as
he had hoped. As he was very thankful to Bunny, he asked
him to the marriage dance and told him he might dance with
the bride. So Rabbit put rings on his heels and a bangle
around his neck, after his usual custom at weddings, and
joined the merry-makers. Through the forest green where
they danced many tiny streams were flowing, and to the soft
music of these the dance went on. As the bride jumped
across one of these streams during her dance with Bunny, she
accidentally let the end of her dress drop into the water so
that it got very wet. When she moved again into the sun,
her dress, because of its wetting, shrank and shrank until it
reached her knees and made her much ashamed. But Rabbit's
heart was touched as usual by her plight ; he ran quickly and
got a deer skin that he knew to be hidden in the trees not far
away, and he wrapped the pretty skin around the bride. Then
he twisted a cord with which to tie it on. He held one end
of the cord in his teeth and twisted the other end with
his front paws. But in his haste, he held it so tight and
twisted it so hard that when a couple waltzing past carelessly
bumped into him the cord split his upper lip right up to the
nose. But Rabbit was not dismayed by his split lip. He
fastened on the bride's new deer-skin gown, and then he
64 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
danced all the evening until the moon was far up in the sky.
Before he went away, the man and his bride wanted to pay
him for his work, but he would not take payment. Then the
bride gave him a new white fur coat and said, " In winter
wear this white coat ; it is the colour of snow ; your enemies
cannot then see you so plainly against the white ground, and
they cannot so easily do you harm ; but in summer wear your
old brown coat, the colour of the leaves and grass." And
Bunny gratefully took the coat and went his way.
He lingered many days in the new country, for he was
ashamed to go back to his own people with his changed
appearance. His lip was split ; his tail was gone, and his
hind legs were stretched and crooked. Finally, he mustered
up his courage and returned home. His old friends wondered
much at his changed looks, and some of them were cruel
enough to laugh at him. But Bunny deceived them all.
When they asked him where he had been so long, he answered,
" I guided a man to a far-off land which you have never seen
and of which you have never heard." Then he told them
many strange tales of its beauty and its good people.
" How did you lose your fine tail ? " they asked. And he
answered, " In the land to which I have been, the animals
wear no tails. It is an aristocratic country, and wishing to
be in the fashion, I cut mine off."
" And why is your waist so slender ? " they asked. " Oh,"
replied Bunny, " in that country it is not the fashion to be
HOW RABBIT LOST HIS TAIL 65
fat, and I took great trouble to make my waist slight and
willowy." "Why do you hop about," they asked, "when you
once walked so straight?" " In that land," answered Bunny,
"it is not genteel to walk straight ; only the vulgar and un
trained do that. The best people have a walk of their own,
and it took me many days under a good walking-teacher to
learn it."
"But how did you split your upper lip?" they asked
finally. " In the land to which I have been," said Bunny,
" the people do not eat as we do. There they eat with knives
and forks and not with their paws. I found it hard to get
used to their new ways. One day I put food into my mouth
with my knife — a very vulgar act in that land — and my knife
slipped and cut my lip, and the wound has never healed."
And being deceived and envying Bunny because of the
wonders he had seen, they asked him no more questions.
But the descendants of Rabbit to this day wear a white coat
in winter and a brown one in summer. They have also a
split upper lip ; their waist is still very slender ; they have no
tail ; their hind legs are longer than their front ones ; they
hop and jump nimbly about, but they are unable to walk
straight. And all these strange things are a result of old
Bunny's accident at the man's wedding long ago.
THE PARTRIDGE AND HIS DRUM
IN far back times when only Indians dwelt in Canada,
Glooskap, who was Lord and Master of the tribes,
chose Partridge from among all his creatures to be the
boat-builder for the birds of the sea. Partridge was then a very
wonderful bird, very different from what he is to-day. He
dwelt always along the ocean shore, on the banks of great
rivers, and he could swim like a duck or a gull. He could
change his shape to that of a man. He knew all the country
well, and often he wandered far through the woods looking
for good trees from which to build his boats. Among all the
people he was held in high regard because of his skill. He
was always industrious and always busy, and at all hours of
the day and late into the night, he could be heard hammering
at his canoes, making a sound like a man tapping quickly on
a drum. But he lost his reputation through no fault of his
own. He no longer builds boats ; the power to make the
strange sound of his hammering is all that remains with him
of his former greatness.
It happened that one very cold day Partridge walked alone
over the snow in the deep forest near the shore of a great lake,
looking for lumber for his boats. On the bank of a stream
66
THE PARTRIDGE AND HIS DRUM 67
he saw four beautiful maidens sitting on the ice braiding their
long hair. He knew that they were the nymphs or fairies of
the stream, and he watched them from behind a tree. He
had long desired to win a stream fairy for his bride, but up to
that time he had found it an impossible task, for the fairies
were very timid. As he watched them now, he thought to
himself, " Perhaps I can catch one of them and carry her off."
So he stealthily slipped from behind the tree and crept along
towards the bank. But the water-nymphs, who could hear the
smallest sound, heard his footsteps, and looking around, they
spied him among the trees. " Oh, oh ! " they all cried, and at
once they all dropped into the icy water and disappeared.
Now, Partridge, being then a river-dweller and of very
great strength, was a good fisherman. Many a time he had
caught the slippery harbour seals, and often he had dined
plentifully on their meat. He hit upon a crafty trick by
which to seize a nymph. He cut a number of branches from a
spruce tree, and sticking them upright in the snow on the shore,
he hid behind them, and waited for the nymphs to appear again.
Sure enough they soon came back and sat again upon the ice
braiding their long hair. Partridge put his head over the
boughs to take a peep at them so that he might pick out the
most beautiful, but again they saw him, and with the same
frightened cry, " Oh, oh ! " they dropped quickly into the sea.
After them went Partridge, although he knew that the water
was very cold. He caught one, but she slipped from his arms,
68 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
and when he came to the surface, he had only her hair ribbon
in his hand.
Now, in those old days water-nymphs in this part of the
sea could not live long without their hair ribbons, for the
ribbons contained always much of their magic power.
Partridge knew this, and he knew too that sooner or later the
nymph would wander about on land looking for her lost
charm. So he put the ribbon in his pocket and with a light
heart he went about his business of seeking wood for his
boats. That night when he went back to his tent he hid the
ribbon not far from his hand in hope of the fairy's visit; then,
pretending to sleep, he closed his eyes and waited. He had
not been there long when there came in very softly the
beautiful water-nymph in search of her lost ribbon. Now,
when a water-nymph sets foot in the dwelling of man or
animal without her hair ribbon, she is always powerless.
This Partridge knew well. He sprang quickly from his
couch, caught her with little trouble, and easily persuaded
her to remain with him as his wife. This was against
Glooskap's orders, for Glooskap knew that if one of his people
married a water-nymph no good could come of it. But
Glooskap said nothing.
Partridge and his nymph-wife lived happily enough for a
time. But he always feared for her safety when he went far
away looking for lumber for his boats, for many evil creatures
were always about in the forest. And he always said to her
HE SAW FOUR BEAUTIFUL MAIDENS SITTING ON THE ICE BRAIDING THEIR HAIR.
THE PARTRIDGE AND HIS DRUM 69
before he went away, " Keep the doors tightly barred while I
am gone, for many wicked people and robbers prowl through
the woods, and they will try to enter the tent perhaps to kill
you." And she always promised to be on her guard.
One day Partridge went far away in search of lumber for
a new fleet of boats he was then building. In the afternoon
he came to a grove of wonderful cedar trees. He wished to
examine it carefully, and as night was coming on — for winter
nights come early in the Canadian woods — he decided to stay
there until the next day. So as the day went down, he made
a bed of boughs and went to sleep. He had no fear for his
wife's safety, for she had promised to keep the doors barred.
Meanwhile, his wife waited at home for his coming.
When the stars came out, she knew that he would not come
home that night, and being sleepy she went to bed, first seeing
that the doors were securely fastened. She felt very lonely
all by herself in the big tent, for Partridge, because of the
troublesome noise of his boat-building, dwelt a good distance
away from his neighbours. At midnight she was awakened
by a loud knocking at the door. " Open the door," said
a voice outside ; " I am cold and hungry and I have come
far." But mindful of the warning of Partridge, the nymph-
wife paid no heed to the call. Now, the voice was that of a
wicked sorcerer who always prowled through the forest, and
who knew that Partridge was away. He wished to kill and
eat the nymph. He was a very clever and sly fellow, and he
70 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
could imitate the voices of all men and animals to lure people
to their death. For a long time after his first call he was
silent. Then he knocked again and imitated the voice of the
nymph's brothers and sisters, and said, " Oh, sister, we have
followed you for a long time until at last we have found you ;
open the door to us." But still the nymph was suspicious
and refused to unbar the door. Then the sorcerer imitated her
father's voice and called her " daughter." But still she would
not let him in. At last he talked like her mother, and said,
" Oh, daughter, open the door ; I have come far in search of
you, and I am very cold and hungry and tired." The nymph-
wife was deceived ,at last, for she thought the voice was that
of her old mother from the stream. Hastily she opened the
door. At once the wicked sorcerer — the evil spirit of the
woods — pounced upon her, and killing her at a blow, he
greedily devoured her like a wolf, until not a bone was left.
The next morning Partridge came home. He found the
door of his house open and his wife absent. He wondered
greatly, for he remembered her promise, and he could not
believe that she had been killed. So he resolved to use his
magic power to learn where she had gone. He took his
magic wooden plate and filled it with water, and placed it in
a corner of the tent while he slept. When he awoke, the
dish was full not of water but of blood, and he knew from
this sign that his wife had been killed by the sorcerer. He
determined to punish her slayer, and taking his axe and his
THE PARTRIDGE AND HIS DRUM 71
bow and arrows and his magic charm, he left his work and
set out in pursuit of the sorcerer. He knew that the sorcerers
travelled in pairs ; he knew too that they had many tricks by
which to escape punishment, and that they could take on
various shapes. So he went along cautiously.
By evening he reached a great lone land in the far north
where he thought he found traces of two of the evil ones.
He came to a large cave which he entered, intending to pass
the night there. From a huge rock at the side of the cave a
man's foot was sticking. He knew that here was one of the
sorcerers who had gone into the rock to sleep as was their
custom, leaving his foot sticking out so that his comrade could
pull him out when he had slept long enough. Partridge
quickly cut off the foot close to the rock, and there the
sorcerer was left closed up forever in the stone. There the
rock remains to this day. Just as Partridge had finished the
cutting, the sorcerer's companion came in, and Partridge
knew, — for he had seen him often about his tent, — that here
at last was the murderer of his wife. When the sorcerer
saw no foot sticking from the rock, he knew at once that his
brother was forever locked up in the stone, and he became
very angry. Then he saw Partridge whom he knew to be his
brother's slayer, but giving no sign of his knowledge, he
received him kindly. He bolted the door of the cave, and
then made a great fire thinking to roast Partridge alive and
thereby have a good meal. But Partridge used his magic
72 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
charm against heat and helped the sorcerer to pile more wood
on the fire, saying that he was very cold. Soon the cave
grew hotter and hotter until at last its sides became red and
the flames shot high to the roof, and even before he knew it
the sorcerer was overcome by the great heat. Partridge
threw him upon the fire, where he was quickly burned to
cinders. Then, well pleased with his vengeance, he returned
quickly to his home.
But from that day poor Partridge was never himself
again. He sorrowed greatly for his dead nymph-wife, until
he became stupid and could not do his work well, but he went
faithfully about his duties, finishing the great fleet of boats
for the birds and animals. Finally came the day when all
were to be launched, and Glooskap and all his people gathered
to see the fleet go by. It was a very wonderful sight on
a great inland sea. The eagle had a large canoe which he
paddled with the ends of his wings ; all the birds of the sea
and the river had very wonderful boats, — the crane and the
duck, the snipe and the curlew, the plover and the gull, the
wild goose and the loon and the kingfisher. And the boats
were all of different colours, each colour the same as that of
the bird for whom the boat was made. All the birds were
supplied with boats. Even the humming-bird had a tiny
canoe of many wonderful colours, and he had a little paddle
not larger than a small pin.
Partridge's own canoe was the last to be launched. The
THE PARTRIDGE AND HIS DRUM 73
people all watched for it in patience and eagerness, for they
thought that because he had built such wonderful boats for
the other birds, he would have a particularly good one for
himself. Now, Partridge had built his own canoe last, while
he sorrowed for his dead wife. His brain had been muddled
by his great grief. He reasoned foolishly that since a boat
with two ends could be rowed in two directions, a boat with
no ends at all could be rowed in all directions. So he made
his own boat round like a saucer. But when it was launched
and he tried to paddle it, he made no headway, for it turned
round and round but always stayed in one place. All the
people and the birds when they saw it laughed heartily at him
and called him " fool." Then poor Partridge's grief was
increased. He knew that he had forever lost his reputation
as a boat-builder among the birds of the sea. He had no
wish to dwell longer among them, and he decided to leave
them for ever. So he flew far away into the forest, and since
that time he has never been seen upon the shore of the sea, nor
near a river or lake. He stays on land, — far in the deep woods,
and he has forgotten even how to fish and how to swim.
But he still keeps one remnant of his old life. He still makes
a drumming noise as if he is hammering a canoe, and deep in
the forest you can still hear his strange sound. You know
then that he is mindful of old times when he built boats upon
the shore and all day long and far into the night tapped
lightly with his hammer.
HOW SUMMER CAME TO CANADA
ONCE during Glooskap's lifetime and reign in Canada
it grew very cold. Everywhere there was snow and
ice, and in all the land there was not a flower nor a
leaf left alive. The fires that the Indians built could not
bring warmth. The food supply was slowly eaten up, and
the people were unable to grow more corn because of the hard
frozen ground. Great numbers of men and women and
children died daily from cold and hunger, and it seemed as if
the whole land must soon perish.
Over this extreme cold Glooskap had no power. He tried
all his magic, but it was of no avail. For the cold was
caused by a powerful giant who came into the land from the
far North, bringing Famine and Death as his helpers. Even
with his breath he could blight and wither the trees, so that
they brought forth no leaves nor fruit ; and he could destroy
the corn and kill man and beast. The giant's name was
Winter. He was very old and very strong, and he had ruled
in the far North long before the coming of man. Glooskap,
being brave and wishing to help his people in their need,
went alone to the giant's tent to try to coax or bribe or force
him to go away. But even he, with all his magic power, at
74
HOW SUMMER CAME TO CANADA 75
once fell in love with the giant's home ; for in the sunlight it
sparkled like crystal and was of many wonderful colours, but
in the night under the moonlight it was spotlessly white-
From the tent, when Glooskap looked out, the face of the
earth was beautiful. The trees had a covering of snow that
gave them strange fantastic shapes. The sky was filled by
night with flashing quivering lights, and even the stars had
a new brightness. The forest, too, was full of mysterious
noises. Glooskap soon forgot his people amid his new
surroundings. The giant told him tales of olden times when
all the land was silent and white and beautiful like his
sparkling tent. After a time the giant used his charm of
slumber and inaction, until Glooskap fell asleep, for the
charm was the charm of the Frost. For six months he slept
like a bear. Then he awoke, for he was very strong and
Winter could not kill him even in his sleep. But when he
arose he was hungry and very tired.
One day soon after he awoke, his tale-bearer, Tatler the
Loon, brought him good news. He told of a wonderful
Southland, far away, where it was always warm, and where
lived a Queen who could easily overcome the giant ; indeed,
she was the only one on earth whose power the giant feared.
Loon described carefully the road to the new country.
Glooskap, to save his people from Winter and Famine and
Death, decided to go to the Southland and find the Queen.
So he went to the sea, miles away, and sang the magic song
76 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
that the whales obeyed. His old friend Blob the Whale
came quickly to his call, and getting on her back he sailed
away. Now, the whale always had a strange law for
travellers. She said to Glooskap : "You must shut your
eyes tight while I carry you ; to open them is dangerous,
for, if you do, I will surely go aground on a reef or a sand
bar and cannot get off, and you may then be drowned." And
Glooskap promised to keep his eyes shut. Many days the
whale swam, and each day the water grew warmer, and the
air grew gentler and sweeter, for it came from spicy shores ;
and the smells were no longer those of the salt sea, but of
fruits and flowers and pines. Soon they saw in the sky by
night the Southern Cross. They found, too, that they were
no longer in the deep sea, but in shallow water flowing warm
over yellow sands, and that land lay not far ahead. Blob
the Whale now swam more cautiously. Down in the sand
the clams were singing a song of warning, telling travellers
in these strange waters of the treacherous sand bar beneath.
"Oh, big whale," they sang, "keep out to sea, for the water
here is shallow and you shall come to grief if you keep on to
shore." But the whale did not understand the language of
the little clams. And he said to Glooskap, who understood,
"What do they sing?" But Glooskap, wishing to land at
once, answered, "They tell you to hurry for a storm is
coming, — to hurry along as fast as you can." Then the
whale hurried until she was soon close to the land.
HOW SUMMER CAME TO CANADA 77
Glooskap, wishing the whale to go aground so that he could
more easily walk ashore, opened his left eye and peeped,
which was contrary to the whale's laws. And at once the
whale stuck hard and fast on the beach, so that Glooskap,
springing from her head, walked ashore on dry land. The
whale, thinking that she could never get off, was very angry,
and sang a song of lament and blame. But Glooskap put
one end of his strong bow against the whale's jaw, and taking
the other end in his hands, he placed his feet against the high
bank, and, with a mighty push, he sent old Blob again into
the deep water. Then, to keep the whale's friendship, he
threw her an old pipe and a bag of Indian tobacco leaves —
for Glooskap was a great smoker — and the whale, greatly
pleased with the gift, lighted the pipe and smoking it swam
far out to sea. Glooskap watched her disappear from view
until he could see only clouds of her smoke against the sky.
And to this day the whale has Glooskap's old pipe, and
sailors often see her rise to the surface to smoke it in peace
and to blow rings of tobacco smoke into the air.
When the whale had gone, Glooskap walked with great
strides far inland. Soon he found the way of which Loon
had told him. It was the Rainbow Road that led to the
Wilderness of Flowers. It lay through the land of the
Sunrise, beautiful and fresh in the morning light. On each
side were sweet magnolias and palms, and all kinds of trees
and flowers. The grass was soft and velvety, for by night
78 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
the dew was always on it ; and snow and hail were unknown,
and winds never blew coldly, for here the charm of the Frost
had no power.
Glooskap went quickly along the flower-lined Rainbow
Road, until he came to an orange grove where the air was
sweet with the scent of blossoms. Soon he heard sounds of
music. He peered through the trees, and saw that the
sounds came from an open space not far ahead, where the
grass was soft and where tiny streams were flowing and
making melody. It was lilac-time in the land, and around
the open space all kinds of flowers in the world were
blooming. On the trees numberless birds were singing —
birds of wonderfully coloured feathers such as Glooskap had
never heard or seen before. He knew that he had reached
at last the Wilderness of Flowers, of which old Tatler the
Loon had spoken. He drew deep breaths of honeysuckle
and heliotrope and countless other flowers, until he soon
grew strong again after his long voyage.
Then he crept close to the edge of the open space and
looked in from behind the trees. On the flower-covered grass
within, many fair maidens were singing and dancing, holding
in their hands chains of blossoms, like children in a Maypole
game. In the centre of the group was one fairer than all the
others — the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, — her
long brown hair crowned with flowers and her arms filled
with blossoms. For some time Glooskap gazed in silence,
HER NAME IS SUMMER.
HOW SUMMER CAME TO CANADA 79
for he was too surprised to move or to utter speech. Then
he saw at his side an old woman, — wrinkled and faded, but
still beautiful, — like himself watching the dance. He found
his voice and asked, "Who are those maidens in the Wilder
ness of Flowers ? " And the old woman answered, " The
maiden in the centre of the group is the Fairy Queen ; her
name is Summer ; she is the daughter of the rosy Dawn,—
the most beautiful ever born ; the maidens dancing with her
are her children, the Fairies of Light and Sunshine and
Flowers."
Glooskap knew that here at last was the Queen who by
her charms could melt old Winter's heart and force him to go
away, for she was very beautiful and good. With his magic
song he lured her from her children into the dark forest ;
there he seized her and held her fast by a crafty trick. Then,
with her as a companion, he began his long return journey
north by land. That he might know the way back to the
Wilderness of Flowers, he cut a large moose hide, which he
always carried, into a long slender cord, and as he ran north
with Summer, he let the cord unwind behind him, for he had
no time to mark the trail in the usual way. When they had
gone, Summer's children mourned greatly for their Queen.
For weeks the tears ran down their cheeks like rain on all
the land, and for a long time, old Dawn, the Queen's mother,
covered herself with dark mourning clouds and refused to be
bright.
8o CANADIAN WONDER TALES
After many days, still holding Summer in his bosom — for
she loved him because of his magic power — Glooskap reached
the Northland. He found none of his people, for they were
all asleep under the giant's power, and the whole country
was cold and lonely. At last he came to the home of old
Winter. The giant welcomed him and the beautiful girl, for
he hoped to freeze them both and keep them with him always.
For some time they talked together in the tent, but, although
he tried hard, the giant was unable to put them to sleep.
Soon old Winter felt that his power had vanished and that
the charm of the Frost was broken. Large drops of sweat
ran down his face ; then his tent slowly disappeared, and he
was left homeless. Summer used her strange power until
everything that Winter had put to sleep awoke again. Buds
came again upon the trees ; the snow ran down the rivers,
carrying away the dead leaves ; and the grass and the corn
sprang up with new life. And old WTinter, being sorrowful,
wept, for he knew that his reign was ended, and his tears
were like cold rain. Summer, the Queen, seeing him mourn
and wishing to stop his tears, said : " I have proved that I
am more powerful than you ; I give you now all the country
to the far north for your own, and there I shall never disturb
you ; you may come back to Glooskap's country six months
of every year and reign as of old, but you will be less severe ;
during the other six months, I myself will come from the
south and rule the land." Old Winter could do nothing but
HOW SUMMER CAME TO CANADA 81
accept this offer gracefully, for he feared that if he did not he
would melt entirely away. So he built a new home farther
north, and there he reigns without interruption. In the late
autumn he comes back to Glooskap's country and reigns for
six months, but his rule is softer than in olden times. And
when he comes, Summer, following Glooskap's moose-hide
cord, runs home with her birds to the Wilderness of Flowers.
But at the end of six months she always comes back to drive
old Winter away to his own land, to awaken the northern
world, and to bring it the joys that only she, the Queen, can
give. And so, in Glooskap's old country Winter and
Summer, the hoary old giant and the beautiful Fairy Queen,
divide the rule of the land between them.
HOW TURTLE CAME
ON the shores of a great water in Canada is a
land where Indians once dwelt. In the days of
French rule it was a garrisoned fort. The remains
of the old moat and ramparts and stockade are still seen in
the centre of what is now a large green meadow ; but they
are now overgrown with grass, and should you go there, on
summer days you can see children playing upon them, pick
ing wild flowers and making daisy chains, unmindful of the
past fortunes of the spot on which they play. Behind you
across the river which empties here is a city in modern dress.
Before you is the sea with two little islands not far away
resting in the summer haze upon its bosom. Moaning gas-
buoys toss about in the gentle roll of the waters ; by night red
beacon lights lift their bright heads all about to light the
sailor's road ; summer cottages nestle on the beach before you ;
the hum of modern life is in your ears and the sight of it is in
your eyes as you stand to-day upon the cliff.
But it was not always so. Long before the coming of the
white race, before beacon lights and cities and summer
cottages were known, this land was the home of Indians.
Many of their descendants live there still, at peace with the
82
HOW TURTLE CAME 83
white folk who took their lands and their forests. They are
the remnants of Glooskap's people. It was here, on the beach
in the little cove, that the Turtle was first created and where
he first dwelt. Long ago, after the white men came, he fled
from these waters ; and although his descendants are still
sometimes caught by fishermen off the coast, neither he nor his
children nor any of his tribe ever went back to the place of
his creation. But the place of his birth is still pointed out.
It was in Glooskap's time that the Turtle came into being.
There dwelt in the land an old Indian, a lazy, poor, and by no
means beautiful man. As a hunter he had been of no value ;
he lived alone ; and now he had come to the end of his life
with little of the world's goods to his credit. But although
he was poor, he was of a merry heart and a good nature, and
he was well liked by all. Now, the chief of the tribe had
three beautiful daughters who were much sought for by the
young men of the village, all of whom wished to win their
love. The eldest was the loveliest in the land ; her name was
Flower of the Corn. The old Indian would gladly have
made one of these girls his wife for he was tired of living
alone, but she on her part thought him worthless, and he on
his part feared that if he wooed her, her many other suitors
would be jealous and would perhaps take his life. So the old
man kept his secret to himself and continued his sad
existence.
It happened that one day Glooskap came into the land to
84 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
see his people. Of all the tents in the village he chose that
of the old man as his resting place, for he had known him a
long time and liked him because of his good nature and his
merry heart. He was not with him long before he knew his
secret, that he loved Flower of the Corn ; and he also learned
of his fear to woo her. Glooskap encouraged him and urged
him to make his wishes known to the chief. But the old
Indian said, " I am old and poor and I have no good clothes
to wear, and I know that I should meet only with scorn."
But Glooskap placed upon him his magic belt, and at once
the old man became young and handsome ; he also gave him
fine clothes. Then he sent him to the chief's home. And
the old man said, after the fashion of Indians when they wish
to marry, " I am tired living alone. I have come for your
eldest daughter." And the old chief, when he saw him so
beautiful because of Glooskap's magic power, could not refuse
his request and Flower of the Corn became his bride.
As the old man had feared, the young men of the village
were very angry because he had won so beautiful a wife, and
they resolved to do him harm. At first they tried to take
vengeance on Glooskap, for as they had seen little of him they
did not know of his great power. A great wedding feast was
held for the old man and his bride, to which all the young
men were invited. Two of the most jealous sat next to
Glooskap, one on each side, and during the feast they plotted
to kill him. But Glooskap heard them plotting against his
HOW TURTLE CAME 85
life and he knew that the time had come for him to show his
strength. So at the end of the wedding feast, as he arose
from the table he turned to each one and tapped him gently
on the nose. When each rubbed the spot that Glooskap had
touched, he found that his nose had disappeared. In great
shame and anger they fled from the feast, and never after
wards dwelt among men. One of these was Toad ; the other
was Porcupine. And since that time neither Toad nor
Porcupine has ever had a nose and their faces have always
been flat because of Glooskap's touch at the banquet long ago.
Some days after the wedding feast, a great festival was
held in the village. Glooskap knew that here again an
attempt would be made upon the old Indian's life by his
jealous enemies. He feared too that after he had gone from
the village his old friend would surely be treacherously killed,
and, as the time of his going away was at hand, he resolved
upon a plan to save him from danger. He told the old man
that at the festival his enemies would try to trample him
under their feet during a game of ball. And he gave him a
magic root which, if he ate it before the game, would give him
power to jump high when they crowded in upon him. Sure
enough, in the game of ball the young men surrounded the
old man and watched for a chance to crush him. Twice he
jumped high over their heads and escaped unhurt. But the
third time when he jumped he stuck upon the top of a tent
and could not get down.
86 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
Inside the tent sat Glooskap quietly smoking his pipe and
waiting for this very thing to happen. He made a smoulder
ing fire from which the smoke rose in great clouds and passed
out at the top of the tent around the old man, and he smoked
and smoked great pipefuls of tobacco until far into the night.
And the old man hung to the tent poles, dangling in the
smoke until midnight. He hung there so long that from the
smoke of the smouldering fire and that of Glooskap's pipe,
his old skin became as hard as a shell. And Glooskap said
to him, " I have done this thing for your own good. I fear
that if I leave you here, after I have gone your enemies will
kill you. I make you now chief of the Tortoise race and your
name shall be called Turtle ; hereafter you may roll through
a flame of fire and you will not be burned nor will you feel
pain, and you may live in water or on land as you prefer.
And you shall have a very long life ; and although your head
be cut off you shall live nine days afterwards. And when
your enemies throw you into the fire or into the water you
need have no fear." Then he took him down from the
tent pole.
The next day the old Indian's enemies, angry because he
had escaped at the festival, built a great fire in the forest, and
seizing him as he walked alone in the woods, they threw him
upon it. But he went to sleep in the flame and when he
awoke he called for more wood, telling them that he was very
cold. They wondered greatly, and after plotting together
HOW TURTLE CAME 87
they resolved to throw him into the sea. They carried him
far out in a canoe and dropped him overboard, and went
ashore well pleased with their work, for they believed that at
last they had taken vengeance. The next day was a day of
great heat. At low tide when some of his enemies looked out
to sea they saw basking in the sun on a sand-bar far away a
strange figure. They were curious, and they rowed out to see
what it was that shone so brightly in the sun. When they
reached the sand-bar after paddling a long time they saw that
it was the old Indian. There he was, sunning himself on the
sand-bar, his hard smoked back shining in the bright light.
As they came near, he said, " Good day," and grinning at
them mischievously, he rolled lazily off the sand-bar and
disappeared in the water.
Glooskap before he left the island, used his magic power
to change Flower of the Corn in the same way and he sent
her into the sea to live with her husband. And he gave her
power to lay eggs in the sand. And the two lived happily for
many long years, and raised up a mighty race. But still the
Turtle rolls sideways into the sea like his old ancestor if men
come near him as he suns himself on the sand. And you can
still see on his back the marks of Glooskap's smoke. When
the white men came, he left the land of his creation, but his
descendants to this day live to a great age and grow to a great
size along the Atlantic coast.
THE FIRST MOSQUITO
WHEN Glooskap lived with his people it happened
once that the tribes grew jealous of his power.
This jealousy was not because of any evil in them
selves ; it was prompted by a wicked sorceress who during
the absence of Glooskap prevailed upon the people to do him
harm. Some said that the sorceress was angry because she
had once loved Glooskap and he had refused to return her
love ; others said that she was much older than Glooskap, that
before his birth she had herself ruled the earth for a long time,
and that when Glooskap came he had put an end to her reign.
The truth of the matter no man knows, but it is certain that
she was very powerful and that she always watched for a
chance to harm Glooskap.
Her chance came when Glooskap went for six weeks on a
hunting trip far into the forest. She then told the people that
he was neglecting them, and she soon persuaded them to pack
up and leave him, for she believed that he would perish if he
were left alone. When the people went away, they took with
them Dame Bear, Glooskap's old grandmother, and his little
brother, whom Glooskap had left behind. The band jour
neyed hastily across the land to the sea ; then they sailed in
THE FIRST MOSQUITO 89
their canoes to a great island, where they stopped and set up
their tents. And the sorceress left the road they travelled
well guarded by evil beasts and dragons who, she hoped,
would kill Glooskap if he tried to follow them. She made
Dame Bear and the little boy her slaves, and compelled them
to do much hard work. She gave them but little food and
but scanty clothing, so that they were soon very miserable.
When Glooskap came back to his home at the end of six
weeks, he found that his people had disappeared. His friend
Fox, who had watched slyly the people's departure and the
wicked woman's tricks, told him all that had happened.
Glooskap did not blame his people, for he knew that their
going away had been brought about by his old enemy.
But that he might teach his people the folly of their act, — for
he knew that they would now be very hungry and poor, — he
tarried alone in his home-land for many years before he set
out to find them and to take vengeance on their wicked leader.
Then, taking his magic belt and his two dogs, he set out upon
his long journey. He went across the sea to another land,
and then he travelled eastward, his dogs following close
behind him. Here he was far from the road that his people
had travelled, and there were no dragons to bar his progress.
Soon he came to a village where the people were friendly.
He heard from an old man and woman about the road along
which the sorceress and his own people had passed. The old
man told him of the dragons ahead of him and of the evil,
90 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
hideous creatures that had been left to guard the way. But
Glooskap, unafraid, and trusting in his dogs and his magic
belt, set out along the enchanted road. At last he came to a
narrow pass in the hills watched over by two terrible dogs.
He put his magic belt around the necks of his own dogs for a
moment, and at once they grew to an immense size ; and they
easily killed the beasts of his enemy, and he passed on
unharmed.
After some hours he came to a high hill. At the bottom
was a large tent in which he knew, from the tale of the old
man of the friendly village, that a wicked man lived with his
two beautiful daughters. He knew too that they waited his
coming, for prompted by the sorceress they wished to kill
him. As he looked down from the top of the hill, he saw the
two daughters approaching afar off. They were very beautiful
and fair ; but Glooskap remembered the old man's warning
and he resolved to be on his guard. One of them carried in
her hands a string of costly beads. They met him with
pleasant smiles and invited him to the tent below the hill ;
and they tried to place the beads about his neck to show him
their great love. But Glooskap knew that the beads were
enchanted, and that if he placed them around his neck he
should lose his strength and power. So he set his dogs upon
the girls, and the dogs were so terrible because of his magic
belt that the girls ran away in great fear ; as they ran, they
dropped the string of beads, without which they had no
THE FIRST MOSQUITO 91
power. Glooskap picked up the beads and then cautiously
entered the tent of his enemies. On a couch of skins near
the door the old man was dozing, and before he could rise,
Glooskap placed the beads about his neck and killed him with
a blow. Then he went on his way. He met with many
enemies on this evil road, but by the aid of his dogs and his
magic belt and the enchanted beads he overcame them all
and was unharmed.
At last he reached the sea, and he looked over the dark
water to another land and wondered how to get across.
Finally, he sang the magic song that the whales always
obeyed. Old Blob the whale came quickly to his call, and
getting on her back he sailed away to the eastward. His two
dogs swam close behind Old Blob. The whale soon brought
him to the land where he knew that his people dwelt. He
sprang ashore, his dogs following him, and set out with long
rapid strides in search of his enemies. At the end of a few
hours' journey he found traces of old camp-fires, and he knew
that his people were not far away. At last he reached the
place where they were living. In the distance he saw a camp,
which because of his magic power he knew to be that of
the sorceress. Near by was his little brother, whom the
wicked sorceress had made her slave ; he was pale and much
worn, and he was clad only in rags ; he was seeking wood for
a fire, and as he gathered up the dry sticks he cried, and sang
.a song of lament, — "Where is Glooskap, my big brother?
92 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
Alas ! he is far away, and I shall never see him again."
Then Glooskap took pity on his little brother, and gave a
signal that the little boy knew well. And his brother, turn
ing around, spied Glooskap behind the trees afar off, and
running to him cried out with joy, for he knew that help had
at last come.
But Glooskap knew that to overcome his great enemy and
to free his people, he must be very careful and use his craftiest
tricks. He told his little brother to be silent, and to tell no
one but Old Dame Bear, the grandmother, that he had come.
He sent him back to his hard work in the camp, and promised
that when the twilight came he should be freed. And he
said, " Do what you can to make the wicked woman angry,
for when anger comes to her, her power leaves her ; when you
are sent to rock her baby to sleep at twilight, snatch it from
its cradle and throw it into the camp-fire. Then run to
me where I hide here among the trees ; take Dame Bear with
you, and all will be well."
His little brother then went back to his hard work in the
woman's tent and told Dame Bear what he had seen and
heard. And the two waited patiently for the twilight. At
the sunset hour the little boy, still supperless, was sent by the
sorceress to rock her baby to sleep. For the first time in his
long separation from his big brother he worked with joy, and
without hunger, for he knew that he would soon be free.
Suddenly he snatched from the cradle-hammock the woman's
THE FIRST MOSQUITO 93
baby, — a wicked child like her mother, — and hurled her into
the camp-fire. Then, taking Dame Bear by the arm, he ran
towards Glooskap's hiding place. The baby howled with
pain and cursed loudly as she had heard her mother do, and
rolled herself out of the fire. And the sorceress was very
angry, and muttering dire threats she ran after the boy and
Dame Bear. They soon reached Glooskap, who sprang from
his hiding place, his magic belt around him. When the
sorceress saw Glooskap, she was more angry than before,
so that her strength left her and she was powerless. Yet she
gave battle.
Glooskap tore up a huge pine tree from its roots and
hurled it at his enemy. It entered her side and stuck there,
and although she tried with all her might she could not draw
it out. Glooskap could now have killed her with a blow, but
he did not wish to do that. He wanted to let her live in
misery, and to give her a greater punishment than death.
And so, yelling with pain and shame, the sorceress ran back
to her tent, while Glooskap took Dame Bear and his little
brother to his own camp among the trees and gave them food.
He knew now that the battle was over, for it had long been
known that if the wicked woman's side was once pierced her
power would never return.
When Glooskap's people heard that he had come, they
rejoiced greatly, for they were hungry and cold. The
sorceress had failed to provide food for them, and they were
94 CANADIAN WONl3£R TALES
tired of her wicked and cruel rule which was very unlike that
of Glooskap. But Glooskap tarried before making friends
again with them, and remained for many days in his own
camp in the trees watching them from afar. His dogs guarded
his grove and kept all away except Dame Bear and his little
brother. Meanwhile, the wicked sorceress in pain with the
pine tree in her side moved about in great anger, but as her
power was now gone, the people refused longer to obey her.
And they all laughed at her because of the pine tree sticking
in her side. At last, being very angry, she said, " I do not
wish to live like this when my power is gone. All the people
laugh at me because of the pine tree sticking in my side.
I wish that I might change to something that would always
be a plague and a torment to man, for I hate mankind."
Glooskap heard her wish, although he was afar off, and with
his magic power he changed her at once to a mosquito. Then
he forgave his people, and as they were hungry he gave them
much food and drink, for he had killed many moose in the
land. And the people all rejoiced and promised never again
to forsake him or to be jealous of his power.
Then Glooskap gathered his people on the shore of the
great ocean, and calling the whales, his sea carriers, he bade
them carry him and his people from this land back to their
old home. There they settled down again in peace. But to
this day the wicked sorceress roams over the earth as a mos
quito ; and the pine tree in her side is a sharp sting. She is
QLOOSKAP GATHERED HIS PEOPLE ON THE SHORE AND
BADE THE WHALES CARRY THEM TO THEIR OLD HOME.
THE FIRST MOSQUITO 95
never at rest, but she shall always remain as she wished,
a torment to mankind. The only thing on earth she dreads
is fire and smoke, for she still remembers that the throwing of
her baby into the fire long ago caused the outburst of anger
that in the end deprived her of her strength. And by fire
and smoke in the summer twilight men still drive her and
her descendants from their dwellings.
THE MOON AND HIS FROG-WIFE
WHEN Glooskap first reigned upon the earth, what
is now the Moon shone by day and what is now
the Sun shone by night. Their work was exactly
opposite to what it is to-day, for the present Moon was then
the Sun and the present Sun was then the Moon. The Moon
was then very red and bright ; the Sun was pale and silvery.
At that time the Sun — the present Moon — kept very irregular
hours, and was very careless about his work. Sometimes he
rose very early in the morning and set very late at night ;
at other times he rose very late and went to bed very early.
For weeks in the winter he refused to shine at all, and even
when he did appear at his work he gave very little warmth
and he might just as well have been covered in his clouds.
The Moon — the present Sun — was, on the other hand, always
faithful to his duties.
At last the people grew tired of the Sun's strange actions
and irregularities. They protested loudly against his methods
of work, until in the end they sent some of their number to
complain to Glooskap. Glooskap rebuked the Sun, but the
latter answered that he had done his work as well as he could,
and that his accusers were merely his enemies. Glooskap had
96
THE MOON AND HIS FROG-WIFE 97
really been too busy to notice the Sun's way of working ; so,
that he might treat all with fairness, he said to the accusers :
"Charge the Sun formally and openly with neglect of his
duty ; I will call a great meeting of all my people ; we will
hold a trial to judge him ; I myself will be the judge ; who
ever wants to give evidence may do so, and the Sun may make
his defence." To this all the people and the Sun agreed.
Now, in those days the Sun had many wives. With
some of them he was far from happy, for often they sorely
tormented him and tried his patience, and a few of them he
would gladly get rid of if he could. One of his scolding wives
was Frog. She had a crumpled back and a wrinkled face and
a harsh voice ; she was always jumping about, and with her
of all his wives he was on the least friendly terms. When she
heard that her husband was to be tried before Glooskap on a
serious charge, she wished to be present at the trial, for she
was very inquisitive. But the Sun said, "This trial is for
men, not for women ; your place is at home and not in the
courts of warriors ; you must not come." The Frog-wife
pleaded to be allowed to go, but the more she pleaded the
more sternly the Sun refused his permission. However, being
a woman, and not to be outdone by a man, she resolved to go
to the trial whether her husband permitted it or not, and she
decided to steal into the court quietly after the trial had com
menced.
At last the day of the trial arrived. The great court-tent
98 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
was filled with Glooskap's people. In the centre of the plat
form sat Glooskap, and near him sat the Sun, eager to defend
himself from the charges of his enemies. When the trial was
well advanced, and the evidence had nearly all been taken,
the Sun's Frog-wife appeared suddenly at the door. All the
seats were filled, but Glooskap with his usual politeness arose
to find her a place. But when the Sun saw her there contrary
to his wishes, he was very angry. He looked at her sternly
with a frown, making at her a wry, twisted face ; and drawing
down his right eyelid, he said to Glooskap, " Oh, Master, do
not trouble yourself to find her a seat; let her sit on my eyelid;
that is a good enough seat for her ; she can hang on there well
enough, for she always wants to stick to me and follow me
wherever I go." And at once the Frog-wife jumped to his
eyelid and sat there quite comfortably.
Then the trial went on. Because of the Sun's clever
defence of himself he was declared "not guilty " of the charges
against him. It was decided by the judge, Glooskap, — and all
the people, even the accusers, agreed — that under the circum
stances he had done his work as well as he could, and that he
deserved neither blame nor punishment. But at the close of
the trial, when the Sun attempted to go back to his work, he
could not get rid of his Frog-wife. He tried with all his
might but he could not shake her off. She stuck fast to his
eyelid and stubbornly refused to leave her seat, and she said
that henceforth she would stay with him to see that he did
THE MOON AND HIS FROG-WIFE 99
his work well. All the people pulled and tugged and coaxed,
but they failed to move her. The strongest men in the land
came, but even they could not pull her away. Then the
people lamented and said to Glooskap : " She covers the side
of the Sun's face and hinders his work ; she makes him ugly ;
we must not have our Light of Day disfigured like this and
bright on one side only ; all the world will laugh at us.
What are we to do?" And they were in great sorrow and
distress.
But Glooskap in his wisdom found a way out of the diffi
culty. He said : " Be not troubled, O my people! We will
make the Moon and the Sun exchange places ; the Moon, who
is still perfect and unharmed, shall become the Light of Day
instead of Night, and shall take the name Sun. The Sun
shall become the Light of Night instead of Day, and shall
take the name Moon ; for at night it will matter little if one
side of his face is dark ; and his Frog-wife hanging to his
eyelid will by night be little noticed." To this the people all
agreed. And so the Sun was changed with the Moon to
shine by night, and the Moon was changed with the Sun to
shine by day.
So now when the Moon — the old Sun — first appears at his
work, he holds away from the earth the side of his face to
which his Frog-wife is hanging, for he is very much ashamed
of his appearance. And when he turns his head full upon
the earth, you can still see, when the sky is clear, his black
ioo CANADIAN WONDER TALES
Frog-wife hanging to his right eyelid and covering one side
of his face. And always when his month's work is nearly
done he turns his head abruptly in a frantic effort to shake
her off, but he never succeeds. She hangs there always, and
because of his Frog-wife's curiosity he shall never shine again
by day.
GLOOSKAP AND THE FAIRY
ONE day Glooskap was in his tent with his old Grand
mother. They heard a great noise. "A very big
man is coming," said Glooskap, " I hear his foot
steps." Time passed but no one came. Soon they heard a
great noise again. " He must be a very big man," said
Glooskap ; " the earth is trembling under his tread, for the
calves of my legs are shaking ; he is coming nearer." Soon
there was a knock at the door. ''Come in," said Glooskap.
In came a little fellow no bigger than a man's thumb. ''You
walk very heavily and make a great noise for so small a man,"
said Glooskap. "Yes," said the little fellow ; but not another
word would he say.
They sat silent for a long time. Then Glooskap tried to
put his strange little caller to the test. "Take something to
eat," he said, and he passed him a plateful of food. With
his magic power he made the plate very heavy, and he thought
that the little man could not hold it but would let it fall
on his toes. But the little fellow took it easily, and held it
while he ate all it contained. When he had finished eating,
he passed it back. But it had grown so heavy because of the
little man's power that Glooskap could hardly hold it up.
IOI
102 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
Then they went outside. It was blowing very hard. "It
is a windy day," said Glooskap. "Oh no," said the little
fellow, "it is very calm and pleasant ; I should like to have a
sail on the sea." Glooskap had a very large heavy canoe.
He thought it would be fun to send the little fellow sailing in
it, for he thought he could not paddle it. He told him there
was a canoe on the beach and that he might take it for a sail.
The little man thanked him and went to the beach. Glooskap
went back to his tent on the high cliff to watch what would
happen. Soon he saw the little man out on the sea in the big
heavy canoe. Then he untied the wings of the great Wind
Bird, and the winds blew harder than ever and the waves
rolled high. But the little man weathered the storm all right;
he seemed to be enjoying his sail, and after a time he came
ashore safely.
When he came in, Glooskap said, " Did you have a good
sail?" "Very good," replied the little man, "but I like
stronger winds and a rougher sea." And Glooskap wondered
much. Then they went outside again. It was still blowing
hard. The little man blew through his nostrils, and the
wind from them blew so hard that the grass fell down
before it, and Glooskap was knocked head over heels
and had to put his arms around a big tree and hold
on tight to keep from blowing over the cliff. Then
the little man stopped blowing, and they agreed to end
their contest and to rest together. Glooskap knew that
THE LITTLE MAN WEATHERS THE STORM IN QLOOSKAP'S HEAVY CANOE.
GLOOSKAP AND THE FAIRY 103
the little man was the strong Fairy of the forest of whom
he had long heard. The Fairy gave him new power to
overcome evil, and then went back to the land-of-little-
people from which he had come.
THE PASSING OF GLOOSKAP
GLOOSKAP, the magic master of the Indian tribes
along the Atlantic coast of Canada, had very great
power for many ages. But as he grew old, his
power gradually grew less. He had done in his long lifetime
many great and noble deeds. He had freed his land of all the
mighty monsters that had inhabited it before his coming. No
evil beasts nor serpents nor dragons were now found near his
home, and there were no longer cruel giants in the forest hard
by. He had made his people happy. But, strangely enough,
his people showed him but scanty gratitude. When he grew
old they became evil, and they were not as faithful as in the
days of his youth and strength. Even the animals grew
treacherous. His dogs, once loyal, were no longer eager to
do his bidding, and one stormy day as he fished for porpoises
they stubbornly refused to obey his command to head off the
fish. Thereupon, in anger, he changed his dogs into a stone
island, now a rocky light-housed island on the Atlantic coast.
All around him he saw signs of faithlessness, and often he
was in great sorrow because of his people's ingratitude.
One afternoon in the autumn, Glooskap \valked alone by
the ocean, thinking silently of his people's evil ways and of
104
*^* ^*w J**
GLOOSKAP WALKED ALONE BY THE OCEAN.
THE PASSING OF GLOOSKAP 105
his own vanished strength. Behind him the tall trees rose
on the hills, their leaves now turned to a mass of many
colours, yellow and red under the autumn sun. Here and
there clusters of red autumn berries peeped through the dying
leaves. On the high bank long stalks of golden-rod nodded
their faded -heads ; the grass was withered brown, and from
its depths came the doleful sounds of crickets. Before him lay
the sea, still and idle and grey in the soft mellow light.
Subdued noises came from the tents near by, where his people,
busy and expectant, were making arrows for the great annual
autumn hunt, for the hunter's moon had come. Otherwise, a
strange silence — the silence of Nature's death — filled the air.
Glooskap knew, as he moodily walked along the beach, that
Summer had gone, that she had fled from the Northland,
following the moose-hide cord he had placed for her along
the Rainbow Road to the Wilderness of Flowers. Closing
his eyes, he could see her again in all her beauty as he had
really seen her many years before when he had first found her
dancing among her children, the Fairies of Flowers and
Light. All the incidents of his long journey in search of her
came back to him, — the sail with Old Blob the whale ; the
Southern Cross in the sky ; the song of the clams under the
golden sands ; the lilac country with its magnolia and
jessamine ; the fair maiden dancers on the green ; and
Summer herself with her brown hair and her blossoms.
Even his lost youth and his vanished strength seemed to
io6 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
come back to him. He could feel on his old cheeks again
the soft air of the Southland ; he could hear the music of its
tiny streams ; and he opened his nostrils wide in fancy to
pleasant odours from scented flowers. And as he dreamed of
the old days, he was lonely for Summer his Fairy Queen ; for
although he was a great warrior he had a woman's tender
heart. Somehow, on this autumn day he was filled with a
strange feeling of melancholy such as he had never known
before. He could not shake the feeling from him. It
brought him a deep sense of coming danger which he could
not explain.
Suddenly he was aroused from his dreaming by the
appearance of his messengers, the Loons, who were still loyal
to him. They had been away many days in search of news,
and now they came to him over the water uttering strange
cries that sounded like foolish laughter. Glooskap knew from
their cries that they brought unwelcome tidings. When they
met him on the beach they said, " Oh, Master, we bring you
a sad message. From away across the ocean a race of strange
pale-faced men is coming, smaller in size than our people but
more powerful. One of their number is more than a match
for a score of your best warriors, for they carry with them
many deadly weapons the like of which you have never seen.
They are coming in wonderful ships greater than your
canoes. They will take all your lands, and will kill those of
your people who refuse to submit to their rule." The Loons
THE PASSING OF GLOOSKAP 107
would have continued their story, but Glooskap wished to
hear no more. He understood now the cause of his
melancholy dread. He knew that the pale race of which the
Loons had spoken was the race of which he had long heard,
and that the white men were coming at last. He knew too
that it would be useless to stay to give them battle. His
reign on earth, he knew well, was ended for a time and now
he must go away. Far out to sea was another hunting
ground to which he must sail to join his fathers. It was
a place, he had been told, pleasanter by far than his old home
on the shores of the great water, — a place to which good
warriors went when their work on earth was done. So he re
turned silently to his tent to get ready for his long journey.
That night he called all his people to the gathering-place.
He told them that he was going away, far away, miles and
miles over the sunlit sea. Not one of them should go with
him. He would be away, he said, many long years, but some
day he would come back. He told them nothing of the mes
sage of the Loons, nothing of the white men's coming. But
he offered as a parting gift to grant them each one last wish.
And at once all the people wished for what they most desired,
and all their requests were granted ; for Glooskap's great
power returned for a brief space before he went away.
The people's wishes were very strange and varied. An
old man who had been of little value as a hunter asked that
he might be great in the killing of game. And Glooskap
io8 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
gave him a magic flute, which when played upon won the love
of women, and brought the moose and caribou to his side to
meet their death. And the old man, with not a care in his
heart, went his way, for he knew now that he should always
have food. A young Indian asked that he might have the
love of many people. Glooskap gave him a bag very tightly
tied ; he told him not to open it until he reached his home,
and then his wish would be granted. But the youth, being
curious, opened the bag on the way. At once there flew from
it numberless girls, all of whom strove for his affection, until
in the struggle they trampled him to death. What became of
the people no man knows. Another, a gay and frivolous
fellow, asked that he might always amuse people. Glooskap
gave him a magic root from the forest which would cause
anyone who ate it to amuse all whom he met ; he told him
not to eat it until he reached his home, and then his presence
would always be like sunshine to all. But he, being curious,
ate the root on the way. For a time he amused all who met
him, so that they all laughed and were of a merry heart. But
soon, because he had not heeded Glooskap1 s command, the
people grew tired of him and no longer laughed at him. And
he grew weary of himself and found no pleasure in his power,
which now no longer moved people to laughter. And his life
became a burden until in despair he killed himself in the
forest. And Old Night Hawk, the evil spirit of the night,
came down from the clouds and carried him away to the
THE PASSING OF GLOOSKAP 109
dwelling place of Darkness and he was never afterwards
heard of among men. Another wished to become a Fairy of
the Forest. Glooskap washed him in the sea, and put a
magic belt around his waist, and at once he became a Fairy
Prince dwelling among the Elves. And he gave him a small
pipe which made wondrous music, and to this day you can
hear his pipe on sunny days in the meadows.
But the wish that was most difficult to gratify, for it tried
Glooskap's greatest power, was that of a youth who wanted to
win a beautiful girl for his wife. She was the daughter of a
powerful chief, who placed such hard work and cruel tasks on
all who desired her that they died in attempting them.
Glooskap gave him his stone canoe and bade him sail away
to the chiefs home ; he gave the Fairies of the Deep charge
over him, and he tied the wings of the great Eagle, the Wind
Bird, so that there might be no wind during his voyage. He
gave him also a magic belt and taught him a magic song,
both of which should help him in his need.
Soon the youth came without mishap to a large island, the
home of the girl he loved. He hid the canoe in the trees and
set out inland. At the end of a long road he reached the
village where the cruel chief and his daughter lived. He said
to the chief, after the fashion of Indians when they want to
marry, " I am tired of the lonely life ; I have come for your
daughter." The chief replied that the youth might have his
daughter if he could do certain feats of strength. The youth
no CANADIAN WONDER TALES
knew that these were the feats the attempt of which had cost
many before him their lives, but trusting to Glooskap's help,
he consented. The chief told him he must slay a great
horned dragon that lived in the forest hardby, and that he
must bring the dragon's head to his tent on the following
morning.
In the night the youth went to the dragon's den. Over
the mouth of it he placed a great log ; then standing near it
he sang the magic song that Glooskap had taught him. Soon
the dragon came out in answer to the magic call ; he waved
his head all about looking for the sound ; then he placed his
head over the log to listen. At once the youth severed the
creature's head with a blow of his axe, and taking it by one of
its great horns he brought it in the morning to the chiefs
camp. And the chief, greatly surprised, said to himself,
" I fear he will win my daughter." There were other difficult
feats to try the young man's courage, but all of them he did
without harm to himself, and with great wonder to the old
chief.
Finally, the chief used one of his last and hardest tests.
He said, ''There is a man of my tribe who has never been
beaten in running ; you must race with him and beat him if
you would win my daughter ; you must both run around the
world." The old man was sure that here at last the youth
would fail. But the youth put on the magic belt that
Glooskap had given him, and when all the people were
"I AM TIRED OF THE LONELY LIFE; I HAVE COME FOR YOUR DAUGHTER.
THE PASSING OF GLOOSKAP in
gathered to watch the contest, he met his rival without fear.
He said to the chief's runner, " What do men call you ? "
And he answered, " I am Northern Light ; and what do men
call you?" The youth answered, "I am Chain-Lightning."
The starting signal was given by the chief, and the two
rivals set out on their race. In a moment they were out of
sight, away behind the distant hills. The people all waited
patiently for their return. Soon the youth, Chain-Lightning,
appeared ; he had been around the world, but he was not
breathing hard and he was not even tired from his long run.
There was yet no sign of his rival. Late in the evening
Northern Light came in ; but he was very weary, and as he
came near he trembled and tottered. He confessed that he
had not been all around the world ; he had turned, back, for
Chain-Lightning had gone too fast for him, yet he was very
tired. He admitted his defeat. The people wondered
greatly at the power of the victorious youth. And the old
chief said, " I fear he has won my daughter."
There was still a final test. The chief said, " Th£re is a
man of my tribe who has never been overcome in diving and
swimming under water. You must strive with him and
defeat him if you would win my daughter." And the youth
agreed. Again he put on the magic belt and met his rival
without fear. When they met by the sea the youth asked the
chief's swimmer, " What do men call you ?" And he replied,
"I am Black Duck; and what do men call you?" He
ii2 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
answered, " I am Loon." When the chief gave the signal
they dived and swam under water. In a few minutes Black
Duck rose again, for he was out of breath ; but the people
waited in wonder many hours before Loon rose ; and when he
came up he was not tired, but laughed heartily. And the old
chief, well content, said to him, " My tests are ended ; you
have won my daughter." That night the great wedding feast
was held ; and the youth taking with him his bride, set sail
for his home in Glooskap' s canoe.
A few of those who asked gifts, Glooskap punished before
he went away, because of their foolish requests. One who
came was very tall and proud of his good looks. He always
covered his moccasins with bright beads, and wore coloured
coats, and sprinkled himself with strange perfumes, and on
the top of his cap he wore a long feather. He asked
Glooskap to make him taller and straighter than any of his
fellows. And when Glooskap heard his wish, to punish him
for his pride he changed him at once to a pine tree. He
made him very tall and straight until his head rose above the
forest. There he stands to this day, the high green feather
in his cap waving always in the wind. And when the wind
blows you can still hear him singing with a moaning voice,
" I am a great man, I am a beautiful Indian, taller than my
fellows." Many others Glooskap punished, but all who had
diseases he healed, and sent away happy.
When Glooskap knew that the wishes of all the good
THE PASSING OF GLOOSKAP 113
people who had obeyed his commands had been granted, he
was ready to set out on his last journey. One day on the
shore of the wide ocean he made a great feast to which all
his people came and all the animals with them. But it was
not a merry gathering, for they knew that they met with
Glooskap for the last time before his long absence. In the
late autumn afternoon, when the feast was ended, Glooskap
prepared to leave them. He threw his kettle into the sea, for
he would need it no more, and it became an island. And he
tied one wing of the Wind Bird, so that after he had gone
away the gales would not blow so strong on the Atlantic
coast as they had blown in his lifetime. And he talked long
to his people and smoked his last pipe with them and gave
them good advice ; he spoke of his going away, but of the
land to which he was going he would say nothing ; he pro
mised that some day after many years had passed he would
come again among them. Then in the evening a great stone
canoe came over the ocean, guided by two of the Children of
Light. And Glooskap, seeing it, said, "It is now the sunset
hour, and I must leave you." Many of his people, his good
followers who throughout his lifetime had been faithful to
him, begged him to allow them to go with him. But he
answered, " No ; this last great journey I must make alone,
for no man can come with me or help me." And just at the
turn of the tide as the sun set behind the distant hills, he
embarked in the great stone canoe and sailed far out to sea
ii4 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
with the ebbing tide, singing as he went a strange sad song.
His people and all the beasts looked after him until in the
deepening twilight they could see him no more; but long after
they had lost sight of him, his song came to them, weird and
doleful, across the water ; gradually the sounds grew fainter
and fainter, until when night came they died entirely away.
Then a strange silence fell upon the earth. The beasts
mourned until they lost the power of speech ; they fled into
the forest in different ways, and since that time they have
never met together in peaceful council as in the olden days,
and they have never spoken like men. The Great Owl
departed in sorrow, and hid himself in the deep forest ; since
that time he has seldom appeared by day, but at night he
always cries, " Koo-koo-koo," which in the Indian language
means, " I am sad, I am sad." And the Loon, Glooskap's
old messenger, wanders up and down upon the beach calling
for his master with loud wild cries. And Glooskap's people
grow smaller and smaller in number because of their Master's
absence, and they slowly waste away until some day they too
shall vanish from the earth.
So Glooskap sailed away over the sea to the distant
hunting grounds of his fathers. There he lives still in a great
long tent, where he is making arrows, preparing for his last
Great Battle. And when the thunder rolls and the lightning
flashes those of his people who still remain on earth know
that he is angry ; where the sea sparkles most brightly in the
THE PASSING OF GLOOSKAP 115
sunlight or moans most dismally in the storm, they know that
Glooskap is there ; when the phosphorescent lights appear at
night upon the sea, they know that he is working late by the
strange light ; and when there are no stars, they know that
Glooskap lies asleep, taking his rest. But when his great
tent is filled with arrows, Glooskap will come back to fight his
last battle and overcome the evil creatures of the world ; he
will then bring back the Golden Age of happiness to earth ;
and his people in hope and patience still await his coming.
THE INDIAN CINDERELLA
ON the shores of a wide bay on the Atlantic coast there
dwelt in old times a great Indian warrior. It was
said that he had been one of Glooskap's best
helpers and friends, and that he had done for him many
wonderful deeds. But that, no man knows. He had,
however, a very wonderful and strange power ; he could
make himself invisible ; he could thus mingle unseen with
his enemies and listen to their plots. He was known among
the people as Strong Wind, the Invisible. He dwelt with
his sister in a tent near the sea, and his sister helped him
greatly in his work. Many maidens would have been glad
to marry him, and he was much sought after because of his
mighty deeds ; and it was known that Strong Wind would
marry the first maiden who could see him as he came
home at night. Many made the trial, but it was a long time
before one succeeded.
Strong Wind used a clever trick to test the truthfulness
of all who sought to win him. Each evening as the day
went down, his sister walked on the beach with any girl who
wished to make the trial. His sister could always see him,
but no one else could see him. And as he came home from
116
THE INDIAN CINDERELLA 117
work in the twilight, his sister as she saw him drawing near
would ask the girl who sought him, "Do you see him?"
And each girl would falsely answer " Yes." And his sister
would ask, "With what does he draw his sled?" And each
girl would answer, "With the hide of a moose," or "With a
pole," or "With a great cord." And then his sister would
know that they all had lied, for their answers were mere
guesses. And many tried and lied and failed, for Strong Wind
would not marry any who were untruthful.
There lived in the village a great chief who had three
daughters. Their mother had long been dead. One of these
was much younger than the others. She was very beautiful
and gentle and well beloved by all, and for that reason her
older sisters were very jealous of her charms and treated her
very cruelly. They clothed her in rags that she might be
ugly ; and they cut off her long black hair ; and they burned
her face with coals from the fire that she might be scarred and
disfigured. And they lied to their father, telling him that she
had done these things herself. But the young girl was
patient and kept her gentle heart and went gladly about her
work.
Like other girls, the chief's two eldest daughters tried to
win Strong Wind. One evening, as the day went down,
they walked on the shore with Strong Wind's sister and
waited for his coming. Soon he came home from his day's
work, drawing his sled. And his sister asked as usual, " Do
ii8 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
you see him?" And each one, lying, answered "Yes."
And she asked, " Of what is his shoulder strap made ? " And
each, guessing, said " Of rawhide." Then they entered the
tent where they hoped to see Strong Wind eating his supper ;
and when he took off his coat and his, moccasins they could see
them, but more than these they saw nothing. And Strong
Wind knew that they had lied, and he kept himself from
their sight, and they went home dismayed.
One day the chief's youngest daughter with her rags and
her burnt face resolved to seek Strong Wind. She patched
her clothes with bits of birch bark from the trees, and put on
the few little ornaments she possessed, and went forth to try to
see the Invisible One as all the other girls of the village had
done before. And her sisters laughed at her and called her
"fool" ; and as she passed along the road all the people laughed
at her because of her tattered frock and her burnt face, but
silently she went her way.
Strong Wind's sister received the little girl kindly, and at
twilight she took her to the beach. Soon Strong Wind came
home drawing his sled. And his sister asked, " Do you
see him?" And the girl answered "No," and his sister
wondered greatly because she spoke the truth. And again
she asked, " Do you see him now?" And the girl answered,
"Yes, and he is very wonderful." And she asked, "With
what does he draw his sled ? " And the girl answered, "With
the Rainbow," and she was much afraid. And she asked
SHE WAS VERY BEAUTIFUL AND GENTLE
THE INDIAN CINDERELLA 119
further, " Of what is his bowstring ? " And the girl answered,
" His bowstring is the Milky Way."
Then Strong Wind's sister knew that because the girl had
spoken the truth at first her brother had made himself visible
to her. And she said, "Truly, you have seen him." And she
took her home and bathed her, and all the scars disappeared
from her face and body ; and her hair grew long and black
again like the raven's wing ; and she gave her fine clothes to
wear and many rich ornaments. Then she bade her take the
wife's seat in the tent. Soon Strong Wind entered and sat
beside her, and called her his bride. The very next day she
became his wife, and ever afterwards she helped him to do
great deeds. The girl's two elder sisters were very cross and
they wondered greatly at what had taken place. But Strong
Wind, who knew of their cruelty, resolved to punish them.
Using his great power, he changed them both into aspen trees
and rooted them in the earth. And since that day the leaves
of the aspen have always trembled, and they shiver in fear at
the approach of Strong Wind, it matters not how softly he
comes, for they are still mindful of his great power and anger
because of their lies and their cruelty to their sister long ago.
THE BOY AND HIS THREE HELPERS
A Indian boy lived alone with his parents in the
Canadian forest. His parents were very old, and
the boy took care of them and hunted and provided
them with food. He was always kind to them, and they told
him that because of his goodness to them he would never
lack happiness and good fortune. But soon his parents died,
and the boy was left alone in the world. He lived far from
other people, and now that his parents were gone, he decided
to leave his old home and find friends elsewhere. One day
before he left home, while he was hunting he killed a raven
with his arrow. When he picked up the bird from the snow
it was bleeding, and red blood stained his black, glossy
feathers. He looked at the dead bird and said, " I wish I
could find a comrade whose hair is as black as the raven's
wing, whose skin is as white as the snow, and whose lips are
as red as these blood stains." As he spoke, an old man came
along and said, " I will help you to find such a comrade. I
have heard of your goodness." So he gave the boy a belt and
told him to wear it always, and that it would bring to him
those who could help him. Then he went away and the boy
went back to his own home.
1 20
THE BOY AND HIS THREE HELPERS 121
The next day he left his old home and set out to see the
world beyond the hills. He was not merry as he went on his
way, for he did not gladly leave all behind him. As he went
along he met a man on the trail. One of the man's legs was
bent up at the knee, and his foot was tied to his thigh, and he
hopped along on one foot. The boy said, " Why are you
hopping along on one foot?" The man said, " If I did not
tie up my leg, I would run so fast that I would be around the
world in a few seconds. I know that you are in search of a
beautiful comrade. I have come to go along with you."
Then he untied his leg, and in a moment he was out of sight.
In a few seconds he came back from the opposite direction.
He had been around the world. So the man and the boy
went along together.
The next day they met a man on the trail with his nose
covered up. The boy said, " Why do you keep your nose
covered ? " The man said, " If I did not keep my nostrils
covered, I would blow so hard that there would always be a
whirlwind where I am. You are in search of a beautiful
comrade. I have come to help you." Then he uncovered his
nostrils, and at once there was such a wind that trees were
torn down and the man and the boy were knocked head over
heels. So the three went along together.
The next day they saw a man in the forest who was
cutting down a hundred trees with one blow of his axe. He
said to the boy, " You are in search of a beautiful comrade.
122 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
I have come to help you." So the four went along together.
Soon they came to a village where a great chief lived. The
chief had a beautiful daughter ; her skin was as white as
snow, her lips were as red as blood, and her hair was as black
and glossy as the raven's wing. The boy said, " She shall be
my comrade. I must win her." So he went to the chief and
made known to him his wishes. But the chief said, " The
task of winning my daughter is difficult and dangerous. The
men of your party must do very hard feats of strength. If
they fail, they shall all be put to death. If they succeed, you
may have my daughter. But I do not want to give her to a
stranger." The boy agreed to attempt the difficult feats and
to risk his life and the lives of his party in the effort.
The first feat was a test of speed between one of the boy's
party and one of the chief's. The boy untied his friend's leg,
and the two rival runners set out on their race. They were
to run around the world. The boy's runner came in far ahead
and won the race. The next feat was a test of strength in
moving rocks down a mountain side. The boy took the
Wind-Blower to the mountain top. He uncovered his nostrils,
and the contest began. The Wind-Blower blew so hard that
the rocks on his side of the hill were all blown down in an
instant, and he won the contest. Then the chief said, " The
next and last contest is a test of skill and strength in building
a house from trees in the forest. I want to see how quickly
you can build a house for my daughter." Then the Pine
in! )•
lit'
Li-Uti
THE CHIEF HAD A BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER.
THE BOY AND HIS THREE HELPERS 123
Chopper went to work, striving with the chiefs builder.
With one blow of his axe he felled a hundred trees. Then he
trimmed them, and he had the house completed before his
rival had trees enough cut down. Then the chief said, " You
may take my daughter."
After the wedding feast the four men and the bride set
out on their journey home. The chief gave them a canoe and
told them to go home by sea as the way was shorter. So one
morning they set out. But when they were far out on the
ocean, they saw a great storm coming behind them on the
water. The chief had sent it after them ; he hoped to drown
them all, for he would rather see his daughter dead than
wedded to a stranger. But before it reached them, the Wind-
Blower rose in the canoe, and uncovered his nostrils and began
to blow. Soon his breath met the wind-storm and there was
a great struggle. But he soon overcame the storm and forced
it back. The sea around them remained calm, and they
reached the land unharmed. Then the Pine Chopper built a
house for the boy and his bride. The boy thanked his three
friends for their help. They told him that if he ever needed
them again they would come quickly to his aid. Then they
went on their way. The boy and his bride lived happily in
their new home. But he always kept the old man's belt near
him to aid him in times of need.
THE DUCK WITH RED FEET
AtUNTER in old times lived on the bank of a river
far away in the Canadian forest. He passed all
his days in the deep woods where he had great
success in catching and killing game. There was no better
hunter than he in all the country. Every evening he re
turned to his home, bringing his day's catch with him. His
father and mother were both dead and he had no sister. He
had only one brother. This brother was very small. He was
so small that the hunter kept him in a little box ; when he
went away in the morning to hunt, he always closed the box
up tight so that his little brother could not get out, for he
feared that if he got out harm would come to him. Every"
night he took him out of the box to give him food, and the
little man was so hungry that he always ate a great lot of food.
The little man slept always with his brother, but every morn
ing he was carefully locked up in the box. And in time he
grew very tired of his prison.
One evening as the hunter came down the river from his
hunting journey he saw a very beautiful girl sitting on the
bank of the stream. He decided he would catch her and take
her home to be his wife, for he was lonely. He paddled to
124
A VERY BEAUTIFUL GIRL SITTING ON THE BANK OF THE STREAM.
THE DUCK WITH RED FEET 125
the beach as silently as he could, but she saw him coming and
she jumped into the water and disappeared. She went to her
home at the bottom of the river and told her mother that the
hunter had tried to catch her. But her mother told her that
she should not have run away. She said, "The hunter who
tried to catch you was intended to be your husband. You
must wait for him to-morrow and tell him you will be
his wife."
The next night as the hunter came down the river, the girl
was again sitting on the bank. He paddled over as he had
done on the evening before, but this time she did not run
away. She said, " I have been waiting for you. You may
take me for your wife." And the man, well pleased with his
beautiful prize, placed her in his canoe and took her home.
He did not tell her of his little brother in the box. He cooked
a beaver for the evening meal. He and his wife ate half of
it, but he placed the other half away in the cup-board. Then
he told his wife to go to sleep, and she went to bed and soon
fell asleep. When she awoke in the morning her husband
had gone for his day's hunting, for he had to leave early to go
a long distance into the forest. She found too that the half
of the beaver he had put in the cup-board was gone. And
she wondered what had become of it.
That evening when her husband came home, he cooked
another beaver for their meal. Again they ate one half of it,
and the man placed the other half of it to one side. But not
126 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
a word did he say of his brother in the box. Then
the man sent his wife to bed as on the previous night, and
soon she was fast asleep. When she awoke in the
morning, her husband was gone for his day's hunting.
The half of the beaver which he had placed to one side
was also gone, but she knew he had not taken it. She
was afraid, and all day she wondered where the meat had
gone. She decided that she would find » out what had
happened to it.
That night when her husband came home, he cooked half
a small moose for their evening meal. They ate part of it,
and the man placed the remainder of it to one side as usual.
Then he told his wife to go to sleep. She went to bed and
pretended to sleep, but she stayed wide awake, peeping
through half-closed eyelids. When her husband thought
she was sleeping soundly, he unlocked a little box that stood
on a low shelf, and took out a little man and gave him the
moose meat he had put aside. The little man ate every bit
of it. He looked very strange. He was all red from head to
heels, as if he were covered with red paint, and he said not a
word. When he had greedily eaten all the meat, the man
washed him and combed his hair and then put him back in the
box and locked him up. The woman wondered greatly at
this strange happening, but she could not keep from laughing
heartily to herself because of the funny appearance of the
little red man.
THE DUCK WITH RED FEET 127
The next day the man left early for his day's hunting.
When she was sure he was far away, she thought she would
take a peep at the queer little red man in the box. She found
the key hanging on the wall, and opened the box and called to
the little man to come out. But he would not come. He
seemed to be very much afraid of her. She coaxed him to
come out, but he refused. Then she caught him and pulled
him out. He looked at her for a long time, but he would say
not a word. Then he ran to the door, which was open, and
with a sudden jump he sprang into the air and disappeared.
The woman called to him but he would not come back. He
was never seen again. The woman was very much afraid.
But she was more frightened when she looked at her hands.
They were all red because she had caught the little red man,
and many red spots were on her arms and on her feet where
the red colouring from the man had dropped. She tried to
wash off the red spots, but she could not remove them. She
washed and rubbed her hands all day, but the stains would
not come off. When her husband came home in the evening,
he knew when he saw her red hands what had happened.
He knew that his brother of the box had gone. And he was
very angry. He seized a rod and ran at her to beat her. She
was afraid he would kill her, and she ran to the river and
jumped in to go back to her old home. But as she reached
the water, she was changed from what she was. At once she
became a Sheldrake Duck. The red spots remained on her,
128 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
and the sea could not wash them off. And to this day the
Sheldrake Duck has red stains on her feet and feathers,
because she was curious and took the funny little red man
from the box in the olden days.
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS
ONE autumn day in old times a woman and her
infant son were lost in the Canadian woods. The
woman was going back to her home from a long
journey, and in some strange way she wandered from the
path. The more she walked about, the more confused she
became, and for many days she searched for the right road,
but she could not find it. All the time she lived on berries
and on the little food she carried. At last she found a cave
in the woods, and she decided to use it for a home. She had
not been long in the cave when a large bear came in, and she
knew then that she had taken refuge in a bear's den. She
thought the bear would kill her and her child. But the bear
was good. He looked upon them as his own kind and soon
they all became friends. The bear hunted during the day,
and each night he brought to the cave much meat, which the
woman cooked. So they lived comfortably through the long
winter.
After a time the woman's child grew to be a very strong
boy. The bear taught him to wrestle, and after a few weeks'
practice the boy could throw down his teacher. And the
mother said, " He will be a great warrior," for she knew that
K 129
130 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
his strength was more than human. When the boy grew
large and strong enough to take care of his mother, they
decided to try to find the way back to their old home. So
one day they said goodbye to the bear, and set out on their
journey. After many hardships and dangers they reached
their native village where the people, who had thought them
dead, received them with great rejoicing. The boy continued
to grow in strength until the people said they had never seen
anyone so powerful. There was no limit to his strength.
One day the boy said to his mother, " I am going to
travel far away until I find other men who are as strong as I
am. Then my strength will be tested and I will come back
to you." His mother agreed that he should go, and one
morning he set out on his strange journey. He came to the
bank of a river, and there he saw a man standing not far
ahead of him. As he looked, a large canoe came drifting
down the river, filled with people. They had lost their
paddles. One of the people called to the man on the bank
and asked him to help them to land. The man put out a
long pole and placed the end of it under the canoe, and lifted
the canoe and all the people to the beach. " There," thought
the boy, " is a man as strong as I am." Then the boy ran to
the spot and picked up the canoe full of people and
carried it up to the bank. He spoke to the man and told
him of his own great strength. Then he said, "We are two
strong men. Let us go along together until we find a third
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS 131
man as strong as we are." The man agreed, and he went
along with the boy. They travelled far that day, and in the
afternoon they came to a country of high rocky hills. It was
a lonely and silent place, and no people seemed to be living in
it. At last they saw a man rolling a large stone up the side of
a mountain. The stone was as large as a house, and the
mountain was very steep, but the man rolled the stone up with
ease. He had rolled it half way up when the two strangers
came along. The boy picked up the stone and threw it
to the top of the mountain without difficulty. And the roller-
man looked at them with great wonder. Then the boy told
him of the strength of himself and his comrade, and said,
"We are three strong men. Let us go hunting together.'*
The man agreed, and the three went along together.
They built a house for themselves, to live in while they
hunted. They agreed that only two of them should go away
at once to hunt, and that the other should stay at home
to look after the place and to prepare the evening meal. They
decided that each should stay at home in his turn. The next
day, the man of the river bank who had lifted the canoe
stayed at home. Towards evening he got ready for the coming
of his comrades, and he cooked a good meal to have waiting
for them. Just as he had finished cooking it, a small boy
came in and asked for food. He was very small and worn
and ragged, and the man pitied him and told him to eat what
he wanted. The boy ate and ate until he had eaten all the
132 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
food prepared for the three strong men. Then he went away
and disappeared in the side of the mountain. When the two
hunters came home they were very hungry, and they were
cross when they heard that their meal had all been eaten up.
And they vowed vengeance on the little glutton who had
taken all their food.
The next day it was the turn of the stone-rolling man to
stay at home. In the evening he cooked a good meal for
himself and his comrades. But before the hunters came
home, the little boy came in again and asked for food. He
looked so small and worn and he cried so bitterly that the
man did not have the heart to send him away, arid he told
him to eat what he wanted. The boy ate and ate until not
a scrap of food was left. Then he laughed and went out and
disappeared in the mountain. When the two hunters came
home, they were again very cross to find that their food had
all been eaten up by a tiny boy.
The next day the strong boy stayed at home, while the
canoe-lifter and the stone-roller went hunting. In the even
ing the small boy came again, just as he had done on the two
previous days. He wept and asked for food. The strong boy
told him to eat what he wanted. He ate and ate as before,
until he had eaten up the whole meal. Then he got up to go
out. But the strong boy caught him and held him fast.
There was a long struggle, for the tiny boy was very powerful,
and he was almost a match for the strong boy. But at last
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS 133
he was thrown down, and he pleaded for his life. The strong
boy said he would spare him on condition that he would take
him to his home. He wanted to see what kind of a place he
lived in. And the small boy agreed. Then the strong boy
went with him to the side of the mountain. When they
reached it, the little boy said, " I am the servant of a terrible
giant, who has never been defeated in battle. I think you can
overcome him. Take this stick and beat him with it, for it is
the only thing that can give him pain." Then he gave him a
stick that lay on the ground, and they went on to the giant's
cave in the side of the hill. When they went in, the giant
sprang upon the strong boy. There was a long fight. It
lasted for a whole day, and at last the strong boy overcame
the giant and beat him dead with the magic stick. Then the
little boy said, " I will reward you for freeing me from my
terrible master. I have three beautiful sisters, and you may
have whichever one you want for your wife." He took the
strong boy to his home in a cave far down in a valley on the
other side of a mountain, and there they found the three
beautiful girls. The strong boy took the youngest one for
himself, and he took the other two for his two comrades.
When they came out of the cave, the strong boy found that
they would have a very hard path to climb up the steep side
of the mountain. Then luckily, as he thought, he saw his
two strong comrades standing on the top of the high cliff far
above him. They saw him and the three girls far below them.
134 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
He called to them to let down a rope, and said, "The three
girls I have with me cannot climb the steep path. You must
pull them up." So the men above let down a strong cord and
the strong boy sent up the two oldest girls first, one at a time.
Then, before sending up his own choice, the youngest, he
thought he would test the loyalty of his comrades. They
were standing far back from the top of the cliff, holding the
rope, and they could not see the boy and the girl below. The
boy tied a heavy stone to the end of the rope, and called, <( I
am going up next. Pull away." The men pulled and pulled
until they had drawrn the weight near the top of the cliff.
Then they cut the rope, and down crashed the stone to the
bottom of the cliff, where it broke into many pieces. The
men above hoped that they had killed their comrade. They
did not think that he had meant the two fairy wives for them,
so they decided to kill him. But they were outwitted by the
boy and the stone. " That is a fine way to reward my kind
ness," said the boy to his girl companion when he saw the
stone in pieces on the rocks. As he spoke he looked up and
saw the two fairy girls running away from the two men
above, who were left all alone. Then with the magic help of
the little boy, the girls' brother, the strong boy at once
punished the two men by making them follow the girls.
They followed them on and on, but they never found them.
And they still follow them ; they wander always, and they are
never at rest.
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS 135
Then the strong boy left the little boy behind him to look
after himself, and he took his fairy wife and climbed up the
path and went to live far away in the forest. For a time they
lived very happily. One day the boy said, " I am going back
to my old home to see my people. You must wait here, and
in a few days I shall come back." The girl did not want him
to go ; she feared he would forget her ; but he told her that he
must go. Then she said, "When you reach your home, a
small black dog will meet you at the door. It will jump to
lick your hand. But do not let it touch you. It is an evil
spirit in disguise, and if it licks your hand you will forget all
about me and you will not come back to me." The man pro
mised to be on his guard, and he set out for his native place,
leaving his wife behind him. Soon he reached his home, and
as he opened the door, sure enough the black dog of which
his wife had spoken jumped towards him. Before the strong
boy could turn aside, the dog licked his hand as his wife had
said. Then he forgot all about his old life in the forest ; and
he lived with never a thought of the fairy girl he had left
behind him far away.
His wife waited long for him to come back. Then she
knew that her husband had forgotten her because of the black
dog, and late in the autumn she set out to find him. Soon
she came to the place where he dwelt. It was morning, and
she decided to hide until night, and then go to his home.
She went to a stream that ran beside the village, and climbed
136 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
into a tree that stretched out over the water. Near by was an
old house in which an old man lived. The old man came to
the brook for water, and as he bent down to fill his pail, he
saw the face of the beautiful girl in the tree reflected in the
stream. He called to her to come down from the tree. He
had never seen a creature so lovely. He brought her to his
tent and gave her food, and he told her that her husband had
gone far up the river to hunt. In the evening she went along
the river to wait for her husband as he came home. When
she saw him coming in his canoe, she sat on the bank of the
stream and sang her magic song. It was a song of wonderful
melody, such as only fairy maidens can sing, and the sound
went far over the water and charmed all who heard it. When
her husband heard the song, he stopped to listen. He soon
knew that the music was that of his fairy wife of the forest,
for no one else on earth could sing so wonderful a song.
Then his old life in the forest came back to his mind, with
memories of the two strong men and the tiny boy and the
three fairy girls. And he remembered his wife to whom he
had promised to return. Then he paddled his canoe to the
bank, and found his wife, and they were happy again. It was
a cold autumn night and the moon was full, and his wife said,
"We must not stay here. This is a wicked place where men
forget. If you stay here, you will forget me again." Then
she shuddered when she thought that her husband might
forget her again, and he shuddered when he thought that he
SHE CLIMBED INTO A TREE THAT STRETCHED OUT OVER THE WATER.
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS 137
might lose her again. And they continued to tremble in fear.
Then she said, "We must go to another land. It is a more
beautiful land than this. It is the Land of Eternal Memory
where men and women never forget those they loved. I know
where it is. We will go to it." Then she sang her magic
song, and at once a great bird came through the air to where
they sat. And still trembling in fear lest they should forget
each other, they sprang to the bird's back, and the bird carried
them up to the sky. And there they were changed into
Northern Lights. And you can still see them, with their
children around them, on autumn nights in the north country,
beautiful in the northern sky. And they still tremble when
they think of the Land of Forgetful ness they have left and
of the pain it caused them in the old days of their youth.
THE BOY AND THE ROBBERS' MAGICAL
BOOTY
AERY rich Seigneur lived once in a large town. He
had three beautiful daughters and one son. The son
was but a baby. The Seigneur wasted his money in
wicked living. He spent much of his time in feasting and
drinking and gambling. His wife and daughters were much
troubled. Soon his money was all gone. But he decided
that he would have to get more somewhere, for he wished to
continue in his evil ways of living. One day he met a man
in the fields. The man said, " I have heard of your beautiful
daughters. Will you give me the eldest for my wife ? " The
Seigneur said, "You may have one if you pay me a great
sum of money." So the man paid the money and took the
eldest girl away. Then the Seigneur went back to his old
ways. He spent his money on worthless friends, and he was
idle for a long time. Soon his money was all gone. One
day in the fields he met another man. The man said, " I
have heard of your beautiful daughters. Will you give me
the oldest one at home for my wife?" The Seigneur said,
" You may take her if you will give me a great sum of money
for her." The man paid him the money and took the second
138
THE BOY AND THE MAGICAL BOOTY 139
girl away. Then the Seigneur spent this money as he had
spent all the rest. Soon it wasl all gone, and he looked for
more. Again he met a man in the fields, and he sold him his
youngest daughter for a great sum of money. So the three
girls were sold to strangers. No one knew where they had
gone or what had become of them. Their mother often wept
over them. Only her little baby boy was left with her. The
Seigneur soon died because of his wicked life, but he had not
used up all the money he had received for the third girl, and
he left some of it behind. When the little boy grew up he
went to school. His mother had told him nothing of his
three lost sisters. But his playmates in school told him, for
they had heard their parents speak of them. They told him
that his father had sold them, and that no one knew where
they were. When he asked his mother about it she would
not tell him at first ; but at last she told him all, and she
wept because she did not know where her daughters had
gone.
The boy decided to go in search of his sisters. His
mother said good-bye to him and wished him good luck.
He passed through a lonely forest. As he went along, he
came upon three robbers sitting on a grass plot under the
trees. They were quarrelling about something. The boy
stood and watched them. He heard one of the robbers say,
"The boy will decide for us." And the others agreed. They
called the boy to them, and one of them said, "We have here
140 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
a coat, a sword, and a pair of shoes which we have stolen.
All these things have magical power. The coat can make its
wearer invisible ; the shoes can make the wearer run faster
than the winds ; and the sword can overcome all enemies. We
cannot agree on how to divide the booty. We want you to
be umpire in our dispute and decide for us." The boy said
he would decide the question, but first he must think about
it. Then the robbers set about preparing their evening meal.
One gathered wood for a fire ; another went to a stream for
water; and the third looked after the food. When their
backs were all turned to the boy, he put on the strange coat
and shoes and took the sword. At once he was invisible.
The robbers soon prepared their meal, and looked for the boy.
He was nowhere to be seen, and the magical coat and shoes
and sword had gone with him. Then they knew that he had
outwitted them, and they were very angry.
The boy waved his sword and wished himself at the home
of his eldest sister. Away he went at once, running like the
wind, and in an instant he stood before a very large house.
He went in and asked to see the mistress of the place. When
she came to him he called her " sister." But she greeted him
coldly, and said, " I have no brother big enough to travel."
But he told her of her old home, and soon convinced her
that he was indeed her brother. She was very glad to see
him. She told him that her husband was a very wonderful
man who could do wonderful deeds. Soon her husband
THE BOY AND THE MAGICAL BOOTY 141
came home. He was pleased to see his brother-in-law, and
they all had a very happy time together for several days.
Then the boy decided to go on and find his second sister.
When he was leaving, his brother-in-law gave him a scale
from a fish's back, and said, "This has very wonderful
power. If you ever get into trouble, speak to it and it will
bring you help from the sea." Then the boy waved his
sword and wished himself at the home of his second sister.
At once he stood before a great house. The mistress received
him coldly, just as her elder sister had done, until he convinced
her that he was indeed her brother. She told him that her
husband was a very wonderful man who had great power.
Soon her husband came home and greeted him kindly, and
they had a happy time together for many days.
Then the boy decided to go on and find his youngest sister.
Before he left, his second brother-in-law gave him a small
lock of soft wool, and said, "This has great power. If you
ever get into trouble, speak to it and it will bring you help
from the fields." Then the boy waved his sword and wished
himself at the home of his youngest sister. She received
him as the others had done ; but he soon convinced her that
he was her brother, and he found that her husband was a
man of great power.
The boy stayed with them a long time. Then he decided
to set out to find a wife. His sister told him that in a town
far away lived a very rich Seigneur who had two beautiful
142 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
daughters. He said, " I will go and win the younger."
Before he left, his third brother-in-law gave him a small
feather, and said, "This has wonderful power. If you ever
get into trouble, speak to it and it will bring you help from
the air." Then the boy waved his sword and wished himself
at the house of the rich Seigneur. And at once he reached
the village, going faster than the winds. Before going to the
Seigneur's house he went into a house on the border of the
village. Two old women were there. They received him
kindly. He told them he had come far to seek the Seig
neur's younger daughter. They said, "The Seigneur's elder
daughter is to be married to-morrow, but she will not be long
with her husband." "Why?" said the boy. They wondered
at the boy's ignorance. They said, " Have you not heard of
the Giant of the Sea-cave?" He said he had not. Then
they took him to the window, and pointed to a high cliff far
across the bay. The waves were breaking at its base and
the spray dashed high on its side. But he could see a hole
like a door in the face of the cliff. One of the old women
said, " In that cave lives the Giant of the Sea. As soon as a
girl is married in this land, he carries her off to the cave and
she is never heard of again. His cave is full of brides. He
cannot be killed, for he keeps the secret of his life hidden
where no one can find it. He is the terror of all the country."
The boy said nothing, but he decided to kill the giant.
The boy then went on to the Seigneur's home to see the
THE BOY AND THE MAGICAL BOOTY 143
wedding of the Seigneur's elder daughter. There was a
great gathering, and there was much rejoicing, for the people
did not think that the giant would carry off the Seigneur's
daughter. But during the wedding feast the bride disappeared
and was seen no more. The people knew that' the giant had
taken her, and there was great sadness.
Then the boy went to the Seigneur and told him that he
wanted to marry his younger daughter. The Seigneur said,
" Little good it will do you to marry her, for she will be
carried off at once by the Giant of the Sea." " But I can kill
the giant," said the boy. " No man can do that," said the
Seigneur. Then the boy convinced him of his power, and
the Seigneur consented to the marriage. The next day the
wedding feast was held. There was but little gladness, for
the people knew that the Seigneur's only remaining child
would soon be stolen away by the Giant of the Sea. Sure
enough, at the feast, the bride disappeared ; she was taken to
the giant's cave. There was much sadness among the people,
but the boy said, "To-morrow I will go and bring her
back."
The next day the boy put on his magical coat and shoes
and took his sword and went to the giant's cave. The hole
in the cliff was closed up and he could not enter, but he cut
a hole in the rock with his sword and went in. He found
himself in a very large room. Many women sat around in a
circle, all sad and weeping, but all very beautiful. In the circle
i44 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
sat his own wife. At the back of the cave sat the terrible
Giant of the Sea. They could not see the boy because of his
magical coat. Soon the giant said quickly, "There is a
wedding in the town," and disappeared. Then the boy made
his presence known to his wife. He told her to ask the giant
when he came back where the secret of his life was hidden.
He told her not to fear, for he would rescue her. He had
time to say but few words when the giant came back, bringing
a bride with him. Then the boy's wife said to the giant,
"Where do you keep the secret of your life?" He said,
" No one has ever asked me that before, and since you are
the first to ask me, I will tell you. I keep it in a box far out
in the sea. It is in an iron box. There are seven boxes, one
inside the other. It is in the inside box." Then he told her
the exact spot where the box was hidden. Then she said,
"Where do you keep the keys?" He said, "They are
hidden beside the box."
When the boy heard this, he went away from the cave and
sat on the shore. He took out his fish-scale and told it what
he wished, and at once help came to him from the sea, as his
brother-in-law had promised. A large whale swam to him
and said, "What do you want?" The boy said, " Bring me
the iron box and the keys that lie at the bottom of the ocean."
He told him where to find them. At once the whale went off,
and soon returned with the box and the keys. But the keys
were rusty and the boy could not open the lock. Then he
MANY WQMEN SAT AROUND IN A CIRCLE, ALL SAD AND WEEPING.
THE BOY AND THE MAGICAL BOOTY 145
took out his lock of wool and told it what he wished, and at
once help came to him from the fields. A large sheep came
running to him and said, "What do you want?" The boy
said, " Break open this box and each box you find inside."
Then the sheep butted with his horns the outer box until he
broke it, and butted each one until he broke them all. When
he broke the last one the boy was not on his guard, and the
giant's secret of life flew out and escaped into the air. Then
the boy took out his feather, and told it what he wished. At
once a great bird like a goose came flying through the air,
and said, " What do you want?" The boy said, " Bring me
the giant's secret of life ; it has just escaped from the box
and is flying in the air." The bird flew away and soon came
back with his prisoner — the giant's secret of life — and the
boy killed it with his magical sword. Then he went to the
cave. He was still invisible. The giant had lost his power,
for the secret of his life had been found and killed. So the
boy easily killed him with his sword. Then the boy removed
his magical coat and showed himself to the brides who sat in
the cave. He brought them all back to the Seigneur's home
and their husbands came and claimed them. The Seigneur
gave the boy a large house near to his own, and there the
boy and his wife lived happily. And the boy sent for his
mother, and brought her to live with him and his wife.
Soon the Seigneur died. He left all his money and his
possessions to the boy, and the boy became Seigneur in his
H6 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
stead, and was lord of all the land. He lived to be very old,
and he did many wonderful deeds with the sword and the
shoes and the coat which he had taken from the robbers in
the forest.
THE COMING OF THE CORN
IN old times there dwelt on the shores of a great lake
a mighty warrior. His people had all been driven far
away inland by hostile tribes, but he remained behind to
roam over the islands in the Lake and to send his people
word of any approaching attack. His wife was dead ; she
had been killed by treacherous foes. He had two little boys,
and he kept them with him in his wanderings by the Lake.
He was a great magician as well as a man of great strength
and he had no fear in his heart. The islands in the Lake
were haunted by spirits or " manitous," but the man was not
afraid of them, and with his boys he paddled his canoe up
and down, watching for signs of his foes. Each night he
landed in a cove, and pulled his canoe far up among the trees,
and slept in the woods out of the sight of travellers. But
he found it very hard to get game and fish, and often his boys
were very hungry.
One morning at dawn of day he rose and went to find
food for breakfast. He left his little boys asleep under the
trees. He walked through the forest until he came suddenly
upon a wide and open red plain. There was not a tree or a
rock or a blade of grass upon it. He set out across the plain,
147
i48 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
and when he reached the middle of it, he met a small man
with a red feather in his cap. " Where are you going ? "
said the little man. " I am going across the plain to the
woods on the other side," said the man ; " my boys are hungry
without food, and I am looking for game." " How strong
are you ? " said the little man. "I am as strong as the human
race," said the man, "but no stronger." "My name is Red
Plume," said the little man ; " we must wrestle. If you
should make me fall, say to me ' I have thrown you ' ; if you
should overcome me you will never want for food, for you
will have other nourishment than fish and game." They
smoked their pipes for a long while, and then they wrestled.
They wrestled for a long time. The warrior was growing
weak, for the little man was very strong. But at last he
threw Red Plume down and cried, " I have thrown you."
And at once the little man disappeared. When the warrior
looked on the ground where his opponent had fallen, he saw
only a crooked thing like an acorn, with a red tassel on it.
He picked it up and looked at it, and as he looked, a voice
from it said, "Take off my outside covering; split me into
many parts, and throw the parts over the plain ; scatter every
bit of me ; throw my spine near the woods. Then in a month
come back to the plain." The warrior did as he was told,
and then went back to his boys. On the way he killed a
rabbit and cooked it for breakfast. He did not tell his boys
what he had seen.
HE CAME SUDDENLY UPON A WIDE AND OPEN RED PLAIN.
THE COMING OF THE CORN 149
At the end of a month he went alone again to the plain.
In the place where he had scattered the pieces of the strange
object, he found blades of strange grass peeping green above
the ground. And where he had thrown the pieces of the
spine near the wood, little pumpkins were growing. He
did not tell his boys what he had found. All summer he
watched for his foes, and in the autumn he went again to the
place where he had thrown down the man of the Red Plume.
The plain was covered with Indian corn in the ear, and there
were also pumpkins of great size near the woods. The corn
was golden yellow, and red tassels grew from the top of the
ears. He plucked some ears of corn and gathered some of
the pumpkins and set out to find his boys. Then a voice
spoke from the corn. He knew it at once to be the voice of
the man of the Red Plume. It said, " You have conquered
me. If you had failed, you would still have lived, but often
you would have hungered as before. Henceforth you shall
never want for food, for when game and fish are scarce you
will have bread. And I will never let the human race lack
food if they keep me near them." So corn came to the
Indians in olden times, and never afterwards did they want
for food.
When the man came to his boys, he told them what he
had found. He ground some of the corn between stones, and
made bread from the meal, and he cooked a pumpkin and ate
it. Then he thought of his poor old father and mother far
ISO CANADIAN WONDER TALES
away beyond the hills, perhaps without food. So that night
he took his boys and travelled far through the forest until he
found his parents. He told them of his meeting with the man
of the Red Plume and of the coming of the corn. And he
brought them back with him to the "manitou" islands near
the shores of the great lake. And ever afterwards the
fields were fruitful and corn was abundant and never
failed in the land where Red Plume fell.
THE DANCE OF DEATH
ONCE long ago there lived on the banks of a beautiful
Canadian river a powerful Indian tribe. In the
tribe was a very handsome young man, very brave
and a great hunter. He was loved by a young Indian girl
who was likewise very beautiful. But the young man re
pulsed her love ; he was a great warrior ; he was busy getting
ready for the autumn and winter hunt and he had little time
for such nonsense as love. He frankly told the young girl
that he did not love her and that she must follow him no
more.
Now, the young girl was very angry, for she was proud
and beautiful and of a high temper, and she was little used to
have her desires refused. She had a very strange power
which the Spirit of the Night had placed in her cradle at her
birth. It was a power by which she could do great harm to
mankind, but she had never used it in all her life. But now
in her anger she said to the young man as he went away with
his comrades, "You may go; but you will never return as
you go." The young man gave no heed to her words ; he
neither cared for her nor feared her, and with a merry heart
he went his way with his companions.
152 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
One day many weeks later, when they were far away in the
North Country in the land of ice and snow, the young man
became suddenly ill. Then he went raging mad with what
the Indians call the wild "madness of the woods." The girl's
strange power was upon him. In the band of hunters was
the young man's older brother, a very strong and powerful
man. He knew what ailed his brother. He went to the river
and sang the strange weird song that calls the Evil Spirit of
the Stream to man's assistance. Now this was a very
dangerous thing to do, for the Spirit of the Stream had no
love for cowards ; but the man being brave had no fear, as he
wished to save his brother's life. After the usual custom, he
dared the Evil Spirit of the Stream to come to him. Soon the
monster appeared in answer to the challenge, its great eyes
shining like fire on the water and its horns rising above the
surface. It asked the man what he wished, and the man
answered, " I wish you to help me ; I wish my brother to be
in his right mind again and free from the maiden's wicked
power." Then the monster said, "You may have what you
wish if you are not afraid " ; and the man said that he feared
nothing. And the monster asked, " Do you fear me ?" And
the man said " No." Then said the monster, " Take hold of
my horns and scrape them with your knife." The man did as
he was told, and he scraped and scraped until he had taken a
handful of powder from the monster's horns.
The monster wondered at the man's bravery and said,
IN THE TRIBE WAS A VERY HANDSOME YOUNG MAN.
THE DANCE OF DEATH 153
" Go to your camp now ; put half the scrapings into a cup of
water and give it to your brother to drink ; put the other half
in another cup of water and give it to the maiden to drink
when you go back home, and all will be well." Then the
Indian returned to the camp and did as the monster had told
him, and his brother drank the powdered water and soon got
back his senses and his strength.
When the hunt was ended, the band returned home. It
was night in the spring-time when they reached their village ;
the snow had already left the ground and the trees were
in bud. In a great tent in the village the annual Spring
Dance was in progress, and all the people of the place were
gathered. Among them was the maiden lover dancing
merrily with the rest. None of the hunting band entered the
tent, but they watched the dance from outside the door. The
elder brother had mixed a drink as the Evil Spirit of the
Stream had told him, by placing the remainder of the powder
in a cup of water. And he stood at the door waiting for his
chance to give it to the girl. The night was hot and still, and
he knew that the dancers would soon grow warm and thirsty.
At last the maiden lover came to the door to breathe the cool
night air ; the man passed her the cup, and without looking
at him or knowing him she took it and gladly drained it dry
because of her great thirst ; then she went back to the dance.
Then a very strange shadow came upon her. When she
began to dance she was a young and beautiful girl, the
154 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
loveliest of all the maidens in the land. But after she had
drunk the magic cup she grew gradually older. Her friends
noticed the change and stood rooted with terror ; the tales of
their parents came back to their memories ; they knew that
the girl was now passing through the Dance of Death from
which no power could save her. Their fears were well
founded. At each turn of the dance, a year was added to the
girl's life ; the colour faded slowly from her cheeks ; her
shoulders slowly stooped ; wrinkles appeared upon her face ;
her hands trembled as if palsied ; her feet lost their nimble-
ness and her tread was no longer light. She was growing old
in the Dance of Death. Yet she was unconscious of it all,
and her life ebbed away without her knowing it. At last she
reached the end of the room, tottering to the music of the
dance ; but old age was now upon her, and she fell dead upon
the floor. Her power over the young man was forever ended,
for the Spirit of the Stream had brought about the Dance of
Death. "She will trouble you no more," said the elder
Indian to his brother as he gazed upon the shrunken face and
form, "her dance is forever ended." The people wondered
greatly at the strange happening and their merry-making was
hushed ; and since that day the Indians in silent fear still
point you on the river to the scene of the Dance of Death.
THE FIRST PIG AND PORCUPINE
A MAN and his wife lived once long ago in the
Canadian forest. They lived far away from other
people, and they found it very lonely. They were
very poor, for game was not plentiful, yet they were always
happy and contented. They had only one child, a boy, whom
they loved well. The boy grew up to be very strong and
clever. But he was often lonely without any companions but
his parents. The birds and the animals of the woods were his
friends, because he was kind to them and they looked upon
him as a comrade. At last he grew tired of his lonely life.
He longed for adventure. So one day he said to his parents,
" I am going far away to see other men and women and to do
great deeds." His parents did not want to let him go at first,
for they would be very lonely without him. But they knew
that he could never become great where he was, and they
consented to let him go.
The next morning he set out on his journey. He travelled
all day. At night he slept on the ground under the stars.
In the morning Rabbit came to where he lay and woke him
up. Rabbit said, " Hello, friend ; where are you going?" " I
am going to find people," said the boy. "That is what I
156 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
want to do too," said Rabbit; "we shall go together." So
they went on together. They travelled a long distance
through the forest. They crossed many small streams and
climbed many hills. At last they heard voices through the
trees, and soon they saw not far in front of them an
Indian village. Rabbit hid among the trees, but the boy
went forward alone to see the people. The people were all
kind to him and gave him food and asked him to stay with
them. But they were all very sad and many of them were
weeping. The boy asked them what was the matter. They
said, " The Chief has a very beautiful daughter, and word has
come to us that to-morrow a great giant is coming to eat her up.
It will be useless to send her away, for the giant will follow
her. He is a very terrible monster and cannot be killed."
Then they continued to weep and lament.
The boy went out to the woods and told Rabbit what he
had heard. He said, "We had better go on our way so that
we may be far off when the giant comes." But Rabbit said,
" No. Go back to the people and tell them you can save the
Chiefs daughter. Have no fear. When night comes bring
the girl here to me and I will save her." So the boy went
back to the people and told them not to fear, for he would save
the girl from the giant. They laughed at him at first, for
everyone who had attempted to stop the giant had been killed.
But when they saw that the boy was quite sure of his power,
they listened to him. They went to the Chief and told him
THE FIRST PIG AND PORCUPINE 157
what the stranger had said. Then the Chief sent for him and
said, " If you can save my daughter from the giant, she
shall be yours."
When evening came, the boy brought the girl to where
Rabbit was waiting. Rabbit had a little carriage ready,
drawn by two little squirrels. When he spoke to the squirrels
they grew until they were as large as dogs. They all got
into the carriage, the boy and the girl and Rabbit, and away
went the squirrels. It was a clear summer night and the
moon was full. The road was hard, and they ran along
rapidly over the road among the trees, and soon they reached
a village far away. They came to a tent on the bank of
a stream. The boy went in and found only an old woman.
She said, " Death is not far away from you. The giant is
close on your heels." Then she wept. She told them to go
to the river, for her husband was there. So they went to the
river. Rabbit and his squirrels stayed behind to see what
the giant would do. The boy and girl found an old man
fishing from the bank. He said, " Death is not far away from
you, for the giant is close on your tracks. But I will help
you." He sprang into the water, and lay there and spread out
his arms and legs. Then he said, " Stand on my back." So
they stepped to his back. They feared at first that they would
fall off ; but at once he grew as large as a big canoe, and he
swam with them across the river. When they landed on
the other side they turned to look at him and they saw then
158 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
that he was old Sea Duck, the boy's friend. He pointed to
a high mountain. " Go to the mountain," he said, " and
there you will find Rabbit." Then he swam away.
The boy and the girl went towards the mountain. But
they heard the giant roaring behind them and splashing in the
stream as he crossed. When they reached the foot of the
mountain, he was almost upon them. At the foot of the
mountain Rabbit was waiting for them. The side of the
mountain was very steep. It was almost perpendicular.
Rabbit took a long pole and held it up. "Climb this," he
said. As the boy and the girl climbed, the pole lengthened
until they stepped from it to the top of the mountain. Rabbit
climbed up after them with his squirrels. The giant saw
them all from the foot of the mountain and climbed up the
pole after them. But when he was near the top, the boy
pushed the pole out and it fell backwards, taking the giant
with it. The giant was killed by the fall. Then the boy and
the girl and Rabbit got into the squirrel carriage. They went
quickly down the other side of the mountain, and over the
moonlit road until they came to the girl's native village.
When they reached the border of the village, Rabbit said,
" Now, old friend, good-bye. I must go away. But if ever
again you are in trouble, I will help you if I can." Then
Rabbit and his squirrels went away. The boy brought the
girl back to the Chief's home. The people all wondered
greatly to see her alive. The Chief said to the boy, "You
FROM THE BEACH CAME A LARGE WHITE SEA GULL.
THE FIRST PIG AND PORCUPINE 159
may have her as your wife." So they were married and
a great wedding feast was held.
But two young men of the girl's village were very angry
because the girl had married a stranger. Each wanted her
for himself. So they decided to kill her husband. They asked
him to go fishing with them far out to sea. The next day the
boy went with them to the deep-sea fishing place. It was a
long sail. When they were almost out of sight of land, the
boy's enemies threw him overboard before he could defend
himself, and sailed away leaving him struggling in the water.
The boy called for help. Not far away was a small island,
and from the beach came a large white Sea Gull in answer to
his cries. When Sea Gull saw his plight he said, " Have no
fear, old friend, I will help you." Sea Gull flew away and the
boy lay on his back and floated with the tide. Soon Sea Gull
came back carrying a long cord. He let down one end of it
and told the boy to hold on to it tight. Then he said, " It is
a long swim to the island. But I will tow you there." And
Sea Gull towed him to the island, and left him there, saying,
" I am very tired after such a long pull. I can go no farther.
Good-bye, old friend. Others will help you."
As the boy sat shivering on the island beach, Fox came
along. " Hello, old friend," said Fox. "What are you doing
here?" The boy told him what had happened, and said, " I
am very hungry." Fox said, " I have no food for you, but I
can help you in another way." Then Fox picked a blade of
160 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
grass from the bank and said, " Eat it." The boy ate it and
at once he was changed into a horse and ate grass until he was
full and his hunger had left him. When Fox saw that he
was full, he gave him another blade of grass, and said, " Eat
it." He ate it and at once he was changed back to a boy.
Then Fox said, "When night comes, I will take you home,
for there is no boat on the island." So they waited for the
evening. When night came and the moon came out they
went to the water's edge. They could see the lights of the
village far away across the sea. " Catch hold of my tail," said
Fox, " and hang on tight." The boy caught Fox's tail and
Fox swam away, towing the boy behind him. The sea was
very rough, and the waves ran high, and the boy thought he
would never reach the land. But he held on tight and after
some hours they came to the shore. Fox said, " Good-bye,
old friend. I must go no farther. But if you are ever again
in trouble, call me and I will help you." Then Fox ran away
along the beach.
The boy made a fire and dried his clothes and then went
to the village. The people all wondered greatly to see him
alive. They thought he was dead. They said, "To-morrow
one of the men who took you fishing is to marry your wife.
He told her you had drowned yourself because you were sorry
you had married her. Then he asked her to be his wife and
she consented." The boy went to his old home and there
found his wife. She was very frightened when she saw him,
THE FIRST PIG AND PORCUPINE 161
for she thought he had come back from the land of the dead.
He told her of the treachery of the two men. She wept, but
he said, " Do not weep, but rejoice, for I shall punish the two
men to-morrow. There will be no wedding feast for them as
they expected." The next morning the boy went to the Chief,
his father-in-law, and told him what had happened. The
Chief said, " Put the two men to death." But the boy said,
" No, I have a better form of punishment." Then he called
Fox. When Fox came, he said to him, " Bring me two
blades of grass that can change men into beasts, such as
you used to change me yesterday." Fox ran away and soon
came back with the grass. The boy took the two blades, and
went to the men who had tried to drown him. He said,
" Here is some sweet grass I found under the sea. Taste it."
And each took a blade and ate it. At once they were changed.
One became a pig and the other became a porcupine, and both
had coarse hair or bristles all over them, and they had noses
of a strange and funny shape. The boy's punishment of his
enemies was then complete. He said, " Live now despised by
men, with your noses always to the ground." So the first pig
and the first porcupine appeared upon the earth.
M
THE SHROVE TUESDAY VISITOR
IN olden times in Canada, Shrove Tuesday, the day before
the beginning of Lent, was more strictly observed than
it is to-day. The night was always one of great merri
ment and feasting. Boys and girls of the villages and
country places gathered there for the last time before the long
period of quiet. They danced until midnight, but the youth
or maiden who dared to dance after the hour of twelve was
henceforth followed with little luck. This rule was not often
broken, for when it was broken the Spirits of Evil always
walked the earth and brought disaster to the youthful dancers.
In a remote village on the banks of a great river there
dwelt in the seventeenth century a French peasant, a kind
and devout old man. He had but one child, a daughter.
She was a handsome girl, and naturally enough she had
many suitors among the young men of the place. One of
these she prized above all the others, and she had promised
to become his wife. On the evening of the Shrove Tuesday
before the date set for the wedding, as was the custom the
young people of the village gathered at her home. It was a
simple but joyous gathering, the last which the girl could
attend before her marriage. Right merrily the dance went
162
THE NIGHT WAS ALWAYS ONE OF GREAT MERRIMENT AND FEASTING.
THE SHROVE TUESDAY VISITOR 163
on, and all the guests were in high spirits. Soon after eleven
o'clock a sleigh drawn by a great coal-black horse stopped at
the door. It contained but one man. Without knocking at
the door, the new-comer entered. The rooms were crowded,
but the rumour soon spread whisperingly around that a new
presence had appeared, and the simple villagers strove to get
a look at the tall figure in fine clothes. The old man of the
house received the stranger kindly and offered him the best
he had in his home, for such was the custom in the old days.
One thing the gathering particularly noted — the stranger
kept his fur cap on his head, and he did not remove his
gloves ; but as the night was cold this caused but little
wonder.
After the silence caused by the stranger's entrance the
music swelled, and again the dance went on. The new-comer
chose the old man's daughter as his partner. He came to
her and said, " My pretty lass, I hope you will dance with me
to-night, and more than once, too." " Certainly," replied the
girl, well pleased with the honour, and knowing that her
friends would envy her. During the remainder of the even
ing the stranger never left her side, and dance after dance
they had together. From a corner of the room the girl's
lover watched the pair in silence and anger.
In a small room opening from that in which the dancers
were gathered was an old and pious woman seated on a chest
at the foot of a bed, praying fervently. She was the girl's
1 64 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
aunt. In one hand she held her beads, with the other she
beckoned to her niece to come to her.
"It is very wrong of you," she said, "to forsake your
lover for this stranger ; his manner is not pleasing to me.
Each time I utter the name of the Saviour or the Virgin
Mary as he passes the door, he turns from me with a look of
anger." But the girl paid no heed to her aunt's advice.
At last it was midnight, and Lent had come. The old man
gave the signal for the dance to cease. " Let us have one
more dance," said the stranger. " Just one more," pleaded
the girl; "my last dance before my marriage." And the
old man wishing to please his only child, — for he loved her
well, — consented, and although it was already Ash Wednes
day the dance went on. The stranger again danced with the
girl. "You have been mine all the evening," he whispered;
"why should you not be mine for ever?" But the girl
laughed at his question. " I am a strange fellow," said the
stranger, " and when I will to do a thing it must be done. Only
say yes, and nothing can ever separate us." The girl cast a
glance towards her dejected lover in the corner of the room. " I
understand," said the stranger. " I am too late ; you love him."
"Yes," answered the girl, "I love him, or rather I did
love him once," for the girl's head had been turned by the
attentions of the stranger.
"That is well," said the stranger ; " I will arrange all, and
overcome all difficulties. Give me your hand to seal our plight."
THE SHROVE TUESDAY VISITOR 165
She placed her hand in his, but at once she withdrew it
with a low cry of pain. She had felt in her flesh the point
of some sharp instrument as if the stranger held a knife in
his hand. In great terror she fainted and was carried to a
couch. At once the dance was stopped and the dancers
gathered around her, wondering at the sudden happenings.
At the same time two villagers came in and called the old
man to the door to see a strange sight without. The deep
snow for many yards around the stranger's horse and sleigh
had melted in the hour since his arrival, and a large patch of
bare ground was now showing. Terror soon spread among
the guests ; they spoke in whispers of fear, and shrank from
the centre of the room to the walls as if eager to escape; but
the old man begged them not to leave him. The stranger
looked with a cold smile upon the dread of the company.
He kept close to the couch where the girl was slowly coming
back to life. He took from his pocket a beautiful necklace,
and said to her, " Take off the glass beads you wear, and for
my sake take this beautiful necklace." But to her glass
beads was attached a little cross which she did not want to
part with, and she refused to take his gift.
Meanwhile, in the home of the priest, some distance away,
there was a strange happening. While he prayed for his
flock the old priest had fallen asleep. He saw in his slumber
a vision of the old man's home and what was happening
there. He started quickly from his sleep and called his
1 66 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
servant and told him to harness his horse at once, for not
far away a soul was in danger of eternal death. He hurried
to the old man's home. When he reached there, the stranger
had already unfastened the beads from the girl's neck and
was about to place his own necklace upon her and to seize
her in his arms. But the old priest was too quick for him.
He passed his sacred stole around the girl's neck and drew
her towards him, and turning to the stranger he said,
"What art thou, Evil One, doing among Christians?" At
this remark terror was renewed among the guests ; some
fell to their knees in prayer ; all were weeping, for they knew
now that the stranger with the stately presence and the velvet
clothes was the Spirit of Evil and Death. And the stranger
answered, " I do not know as Christians those who forget
their faith by dancing on holy days. This fair girl has
chosen to be mine. With the blood that flowed from her
hand she sealed the compact which binds her to me for
ever."
In answer, the old curd struck the stranger hard across
the face with his stole, and repeated some Latin words which
none of the guests understood. There was a great crash, as
if it thundered, and in a moment amid the noise the stranger
disappeared; with his horse and sleigh he had vanished as
mysteriously and quickly as he had come.
The guests were long in recovering from their fear, and
all night they prayed with the curd that their evil deeds
THE SHROVE TUESDAY VISITOR 167
might be forgiven. That she might be cleansed from her
sins and that her promise to the stranger might be rightly
broken, the girl entered a convent to pass the remainder of
her life. A few years later she died. And since that day in
her little village on the banks of the great river, the Shrove
Tuesday dancers have always stopped their dance at mid
night ; for youths and maidens still keep in mind the strange
dancer in the fine clothes who wooed the peasant's only
daughter and almost carried her off.
THE BOY OF GREAT STRENGTH AND
THE GIANTS
ON the banks of a mighty river near a great lake in
the West, there lived in old times a boy who was
very small in size. As he grew older he did not
grow larger, and he remained very tiny. He lived alone with
his sister, who was older than he. His sister looked upon
him as a child and made him toys to play with. One day in
winter he asked his sister to make him a ball to play with on
the ice of the river. And she made him a ball out of strong
cord. The boy played on the ice, throwing the ball in front
of him and running after it as it rolled to see if he could
catch it. At last the ball went very far in front of him and
the wind blew it along so that it did not stop rolling. He
followed it a long distance and he saw in front of him four
giant men lying on the ice spearing fish. When he came
close to them, they looked at him and laughed, and one said,
" See what a tiny mite is here," but they did not speak to
him. The boy was very cross because they had laughed at
his small size, and he thought, " I shall teach them that I
am powerful although I am small."
As the boy passed them on his way back, he saw four
1 68
THE BOY OF GREAT STRENGTH 169
large fish lying on the ice beside them. He took the one
nearest to him and ran away as fast as he could. When the
giant who owned the fish looked up, he saw the boy running
away, and he said to his companions, "The small boy has
stolen my fish." When the boy reached home, his sister
asked him where he had got the fish, and he answered that
he had found it on the ice. " How could you get it there ? "
she asked, but he would not answer ; he merely said, " Go
and cook it." So they cooked it and ate it for their evening
meal.
The next day the boy played again on the ice of the river.
The giant men were again fishing. When he came up to
where they were, his ball rolled into a hole through which
they fished. He asked one of the men to hand him his ball,
but the man laughed at him and pushed the ball under the
ice with his spear. Then the boy caught the man's arm and
twisted it until he broke it, for he had great strength ; he
picked his ball from under the ice and went home. The man
with the broken arm called his comrades and showed them
what had happened, and they all swore that they would kill
the boy.
The next day the four giant brother fishermen set out to
find the boy. Soon they reached his home among the rocks
on the bank of the river. The boy's sister heard the noise of
their snow shoes on the crusted snow as they came near, and
she ran into the house in great fear. But the boy said,
170 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
" Have no fear ; give me something to eat." She gave him
food on a dish which was made from a magic shell, and he
began to eat. Just then the men came to the door and were
about to push it open when the boy turned his dish up-side-
down and at once the door was closed with a large stone.
Then the men tried to crack the stone, and at last they made
a small hole in it. One of them put his eye to the hole and
peeped in, but the boy shot an arrow into his eye and killed him.
Then the others, not knowing what had caused their brother
to fall, peeped through the hole, and each one was killed in
his turn by an arrow shot through his eye.
Then the boy went out and cut them into small pieces, and
as he did so he said, " Henceforth let no man be bigger than
your pieces are now." So men became of their present size,
and they have never since grown to giant stature.
When the springtime came, the boy's sister made him
new bows and arrows. He took one of the arrows and shot
it far out into the lake. Then he swam out after it, while his
sister in fear watched him from the shore and called to him to
come back. But he cried loudly, " Fish of the red fins, come
and swallow me." And at once a great fish came and
swallowed him. Then his sister tied an old moccasin to a
strong cord and fastened it to a tree that grew out over the
lake. And the fish said to the boy, " What is that floating in
the water ? " And the boy said, " Take hold of it and swallow
it." The fish swallowed it and was held fast to the tree
HE SAW FOUR LARGE FISH LYING ON THE ICE.
THE BOY OF GREAT STRENGTH 171
by the cord. Then the boy took hold of the line and pulled
himself and the fish to the shore. His sister cut the fish open
and let the boy out. Then they cut up the fish and dried it,
and the boy told his sister never again to doubt his strength,
for although he was small he was very powerful. And since
that time, men have never grown larger than he, but although
small they have had power over all other creatures.
THE STRANGE TALE OF CARIBOU
AND MOOSE
r ^WO widows lived side by side in the forest. Their
husbands had long been dead. Each widow had a
-^- little boy. Ono*boy was called Caribou ; the other
was called Moose. One springtime the widows were gather
ing maple sap to make sugar. The two boys played at home.
They talked of the great forest, and decided to travel, to see
the big woods and the mountains far away. In the morning
they set out on their journey. They walked all day, and in
the evening they came to a camp far away in the woods.
The camp was that of the Porcupines. The Porcupines were
kind to the boys, and gave them food. In the morning tl^ey
gave them new moccasins, and told them the road to follow.
The road, they said, had many giants.
The boys travelled all day without mishap. At last they
came to the edge of the wood where the giants lived. Here
they met a woman. She was half Indian, for her mother
was an Indian woman who had been carried off by a giant. Her
mother had long been dead. The woman they met knew
that the boys were of her mother's people, and she treated
them kindly. She told them that ahead of them were three
172
IN THE EVENING THEY CAME TO A CAMP.
THE TALE OF CARIBOU AND MOOSE 173
great giants they would have to overcome before they could
pass on their way. She gave them a box containing two
dogs. The box was very small ; it could be hidden in one
hand. The dogs were no bigger than a fly, but when they
were rubbed with the hand they grew very large and cross ;
and the more they were rubbed, the larger and crosser they
became. The dogs were to be used, she said, to defeat the
first giant. Then the woman told them of the second giant.
She said he was very terrible, and that his head was covered
with great toads, the poison of which would kill any one who
touched them. She told them that the giant would ask them
to kill a toad because it hurt his head, hoping thereby to
poison them. She warned them not to touch it, and she
gave them some cranberries, and told them to crush the cran
berries in their hands when the giant made his request and
the noise would make the giant think they were crushing the
poisonous toad. Then she told them of the third giant ;
and she gave them a knife with which to overcome him. It
was a very wonderful knife that could not be turned aside
from anything it attacked.
Then the boys went on their way. Soon they saw the
first giant standing by the side of the path. He rushed at
them as if to kill them ; but they opened their magic box
and took out the dogs. They rubbed them until they grew
very large and cross, and when the giant came near they let
them loose. The dogs soon killed the giant, and the boys
174 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
went on their way, leaving the dogs to go back to the woman
who gave them. Soon they came to the second giant. He
was very ugly and terrible, and he had long hair covered
with toads. He met the boys kindly, hoping to deceive
them. Then, just as the woman had told them, he said,
" Something hurts my head. Do you see what it is ?" And
they said, " Yes, it is a great toad." " Kill it," said the giant.
Then the boys put their hands close to his head and crushed
the cranberries the woman had given them, and the giant
thought the noise was that of the crushing of the toad. The
boys then went on their way. The giant was well pleased,
for he thought they would drop dead very soon because of
the poison, and that next day he would find them and have a
good meal. Soon the boys came to the third giant. He
was very terrible, and he attacked them at once. But one of
the boys drew the magic knife and plunged it into the giant's
breast. The giant could not turn it aside ; it pierced his
heart, and he fell dead. Then the boys knew that they
were safe.
The next morning the boys decided to separate, and to go
each his own way. Moose went north, and Caribou went
south. By-and-by Moose came to a tent where dwelt a
woman with one daughter. The daughter wished to be
married, but her mother was jealous of her daughter's charms,
and she killed every suitor who wooed her daughter. Her
mother had the power of a witch, which she had received
THE TALE OF CARIBOU AND MOOSE 175
from the Evil Spirit of the forest. The daughter loved
Moose when she saw him. She warned him that her mother
would try to kill him. Moose asked the mother if he might
have the daughter as his wife, and the mother said, "Yes;
but first you must do whatever I bid you." To this Moose
agreed. When he went to bed, the daughter warned him to
be on his guard. The mother put a thick skin over him for
a blanket, covering him all up. Then she went to get
another, saying that it was a cold night. Moose knew he
would soon smother without air under the thick skins when
she piled them over him, and while she was gone he cut a
hole through the skin with his magic knife so that his nose
would go through it. The woman came back with other
skins, and covered him with a great many, but in each skin
Moose cut a hole over his nose so that he might get air.
The woman left him, believing that he would smother in the
night, for she did not want her daughter to wed ; but Moose
breathed freely and slept soundly.
The next morning the woman uncovered him, thinking
that he was dead ; but Moose said he had slept well. The
woman wondered greatly, and resolved upon another plan to
kill him. A great tree grew near the tent. It was hemlock,
and bigger than a haystack at the bottom. It had thick bark
which was loose at the top. The woman gave Moose a long
pole and told him to knock down the bark. Moose took the
pole and knocked a piece off, but as it fell he jumped from
176 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
under it, for he could jump far. The heavy bark fell with a
great crash. Then he knocked off all the bark until the tree
was stripped, but he was unharmed. The woman wondered
greatly. She resolved upon another plan to kill him. The
next day she took Moose to an island far off the coast.
There were no trees on the island. They left their canoe on
the beach and walked inland. The woman said, "Wait here
awhile ; I will come back soon." Then she went back to the
beach. She took the canoe and paddled home, leaving Moose
behind. " Now," she said, " he will starve, for he cannot get
off the island, and there is nothing there to eat." When
Moose came back to the beach, after waiting a long while, he
saw the canoe a mere speck on the water far away. He was
much troubled, for he thought that now he would surely die,
and he cried loudly. But the sea-gulls flying above the beach
heard his cries, and two large gulls came down to him. They
told him not to cry, for they would save him. One went to
each side of him and told him to take hold and hang on. So
he put an arm around each gull's neck, and they rose into
the air with him and flew over the sea. Moose was very
frightened when he looked down at the water. But the gulls
took him home safely. He sat a long time on the beach,
and then the woman came paddling her canoe from the
island. When she reached the land, Moose said, "What
kept you so long ? I have been waiting for you a long time."
But he did not tell her how he had come home. The woman
THE TALE OF CARIBOU AND MOOSE 177
was so surprised she did not know what to say. But she
resolved upon another plan to kill him.
The next day she invited Moose to a wrestling match on
a high hill. The hill was full of stones. Moose decided
that to save his own life he must kill the woman, because he
had had enough of her treachery. They wrestled, and Moose
let the woman throw him down, but because he was agile he
saved himself from a great fall. He let her throw him a
second time, but again he was unharmed, to her great sur
prise. The contest was three falls. The woman was sure
she could kill him the third time. But the third time, Moose
threw her down so hard that her back was broken on the
stones. Then he tossed her high in the air, and she fell so
hard that she was broken in pieces. Moose was then free
from danger. He married the woman's daughter ; but he
was not very happy. The daughter was like her mother and
caused him trouble, for she was often very wicked. She was
a great fisher, and went often to the streams to fish. She
could go under the water and stay a long time and bring up
fish in her hands. One night in winter she went down
through a hole in the ice to fish. It was very cold, and
while she was down, the hole froze over and she could not
get out. She called to Moose to break the ice, but Moose
was glad to be rid of her and he would not let her out. So
she was drowned in the stream.
Moose never married again, and ever afterwards he lived
178 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
a lonely life. He did not like company any more. That is
why he is usually seen by himself, and why he usually travels
alone in the forest. But Caribou, on the other hand, likes
company, and that is why he is usually seen with five or six
others of his kind, and why he seldom travels alone.
JACK AND HIS WONDERFUL HEN
JACK lived with his parents in a remote part of Canada.
He had no brothers or sisters. His parents were very
poor, and their only possession was a goat that supplied
them with milk. When the boy grew up, he decided to go
out into the world and earn something to make his parents
more comfortable in their old age. So one day he said, "I am
going far away to look for work that you may be able to buy
better food." His parents did not want him to go, for he
was their one source of happiness ; but he would not listen
to their pleading. With no money and something of a
heavy heart he went on his way. It was summer in the land,
and when he came out of the forest into the open country he
saw people in the meadows making hay. Soon he came to a
very large farm where a number of men were busy. He
asked the man in charge for work. The man said, " How
long do you want to work?" Jack answered, "A week."
The man hired him, and he went to work. He was a great
worker, and in a week he had done as much as one of the
other men could do in a year. The man was pleased with
his work,
At the end of the week Jack asked for his wages. The
179
i8o CANADIAN WONDER TALES
man gave him a little money in part payment, and an old
hen for the other part. Jack was very cross. He said, " I
don't want a hen ; I want money. Little good an old hen
can do me ! " But the man would not give him more money.
He said, " The hen will lay eggs for you. She will lay two
dozen eggs a day — an egg every hour." So Jack with much
disgust took the old hen, for he could do no better, and went
home. His parents were glad to see him again, and to get
the money he had earned ; but they laughed at his old hen.
But at the end of a day, when she had laid two dozen eggs,
they were well pleased.
In a week Jack said, " I am going away again to earn
jnore money." This time his parents were not troubled.
They knew he could take care of himself. He said, " I will
take the old hen with me and sell her for a great price." So
one morning he set out. He went through the forest with
his old hen under his arm. He passed again by the meadows
where men and women were making hay, but he did not ask
for work. As he passed, the people looked at his hen and
laughed, but he went along unheeding. He soon came to
the town where the Seigneur lived, and he went to a house
where he got food and lodging for himself and his old hen.
He left the hen there and went to the Seigneur's house. He
told the Seigneur that he had a wonderful bird, and offered
to sell her to him. " Go and bring me the bird," said the
Seigneur. But when Jack brought the old hen to him the
JACK AND HIS WONDERFUL HEN 181
Seigneur was very angry. " Little good an old hen like that
will do me," he said. But when Jack told him that she could
lay twenty-four eggs a day, he said, "If that is true you may
have your price. We will keep her for a day and test your
word." So they locked the old hen up for a day. At the
end of that time she had laid twenty-four eggs, and the
Seigneur wondered greatly. He said, " How much do you
want for your hen?" Jack answered, "Whatever you wish
to pay me." The Seigneur gave him much money, and Jack,
well pleased with his bargain, went home. His parents were
glad to have him back, and to get the money he had got for
the old hen. They began to live very comfortably.
At the end of a few weeks Jack decided to go<away again.
He said, " Let me take the old goat and sell her. We can do
without her milk." He thought that since he had sold the hen
so well, he could make a good sale of the goat. His parents
agreed to his wishes. So one morning he tied ribbons and
flowers around the old goat's head and covered her with a
many-coloured blanket, and set out, leading her behind him.
He went along through the forest. It was harvest time, and
he passed great farms where reapers were busy cutting yellow
grain. But he did not ask for work. The people all looked
with wonder at his goat as he passed, but he spoke to no one.
Soon he came to the town where the Seigneur lived. He
brought his goat to the Seigneur and offered to sell her to
, him, and the Seigneur gave him much money for her. Then
182 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
she was placed in a yard with the Seigneur's other animals.
The yard was always guarded by two keepers.
Jack decided not to go home at once. He planned to
steal the goat back and take her home. Then he would have
the goat and much money too. So he bought a large
quantity of food, put it in a basket, and carried it to the
animal yard. When the two keepers saw him coming, they ran
to him to send him away, for no one else was allowed at
night near the yard. But Jack said, " The night is long and
cool. The Seigneur sent me to you with this basket of
food." The keepers were well pleased with the food, and
they sat down and had a good meal. They ate until they
were full. Jack said, "If you want to sleep for an hour, I will
watch. I like to sit in the moonlight." The harvest moon
was full, and the night was as bright as day. The two
keepers thanked Jack for his kindness, and lay down on
some straw, and were soon fast asleep because of their hearty
meal. Jack waited until they were sound asleep. Then he
took the old goat and walked quietly away, leading her
behind him. The town was all asleep. There was not a
sound anywhere. Soon he reached the open country without
meeting anyone, and passed by rich harvest fields until he
came to the forest. Then he followed the forest path in the
bright moonlight, and reached his home before morning.
His parents were glad to see him again so soon and to get
his money. But when he told them that he had sold the old
HE BOUGHT A LARGE QUANTITY OF FOOD, PUT IT IN A BASKET, AND CARRIED IT TO THE ANIMAL YARD.
JACK AND HIS WONDERFUL HEN 183
goat and stolen her back they were very angry, and his father
said, " No good can come of it. The old goat will bring you
to a sad end."
After a few days Jack decided to set out again to seek his
fortune. He took the stolen goat with him. Before he was
out of the forest he came upon a man camped in a green place
under the trees. The man asked him who he was. Jack
said, "I am a servant of the Seigneur. I take care of his
beautiful goats. He gave me this one for myself." The
man liked the goat very much, and asked Jack what he
would take for her. But Jack said he would not sell her.
Then Jack asked him who he was. The man said, " I am a
robber. If you will come with me, we will soon be very
rich." So Jack agreed to join bim. They went along to
gether for some days. But the robber always had his eye on
the goat. One night as they slept on the bank of a stream,
the robber killed Jack with a blow and threw his body into
the river. He wanted -his goat. Then he took the old goat
and went on his way. Poor Jack's stolen goat had brought
him to a sad end.
THE SAD TALE OF WOODPECKER AND
BLUE JAY
A1ISTER and brother lived alone in a house in the
forest. Their father and mother were dead. The
boy had a strange magic power which had been
given to him by his parents. The two children loved each
other very deeply. The brother cared well for his sister and
protected her from all danger. He knew that the forest had
many evil creatures who would be glad to carry off his sister
if they could. The brother often went far away to hunt. He
was often gone for many days. When he went away, he
always said to his sister, " Keep the door barred while I am
gone, and do not speak to anyone."
One day the brother went far away into the forest. He
would not be home till evening. He said to his sister, " Keep
the door barred ; do not eat until I come back, and do not
speak to anyone." Then he went his way into the woods.
The sister forgot her brother's warning. It was a hot day,
and she opened the door for air. Soon Otter appeared at the
door. The girl spoke to him and he came in. Otter spoke
to her, but she remembered the warning of her brother and
she would speak no more. Otter talked and asked her ques-
184
TALE OF WOODPECKER AND BLUEJAY 185
tions, but she would not answer. Then Otter became very
angry. He determined to make her speak. He caught her
roughly and pulled down her hair. Her hair was very long
and beautiful and as black as the raven's wing. He dragged
her by the hair to the fire, as if he would burn her, and said,
" You will speak, you will speak or I will kill you." But she
would not speak. Then he cut off her hair, hoping that she
would cry out. But still she refused to utter a sound. Then
he ate her food. He ate everything in the house, for he was
a great eater. But still she said not a word of protest. Then
Otter went away in disgust and rage, babbling loudly as he
went.
But just as Otter left the house, the girl's brother was
coming home. He saw Otter through the trees, and he knew
that harm had been done. He came to the house, and through
the door he saw his sister with her hair cut short. When he
came in, he asked her what was the matter. She told him
what had happened. He was very cross, and he scolded her
for leaving the door open and for speaking to Otter. He said,
" You did not heed my warning. Why did you not run out
when Otter came in?" But the girl said, "It would have
done no good ; he would have followed me and caught me."
And the man said, "Why did you not wish for me ?" for each
had power to bring the other home at once by a wish. But
his sister said, " I was so frightened I did not think of it."
"Why do you cry?" the brother asked. "Because he hurt
1 86 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
me," she answered, "and because he cut off my beautiful
hair."
Then the brother took pity on her. He comforted her and
said, " Do not cry for that ; I will make your hair grow
beautiful again. But your good name is lost ; you can never
get that back; you have disobeyed my orders; you have talked
to a wicked man."
Then he dressed his sister in good clothes, and washed
and combed her hair. And as he combed it, it grew longer
and longer and more beautiful than before, and the girl was
comforted. Then he made paint from roots. He made red
paint and blue paint. And he painted her face and head red,
and painted his own face and head blue. Then he watched
for Otter that he might take vengeance. Soon he saw Otter
going to the lake to fish. Otter went down under the water.
The brother went to the shore of the lake and sang his magic
song. And at once the lake froze over. Otter felt the cold
underneath the water, and he came up in great haste. He
bumped his head on the ice and broke the ice ; then he stuck
his head through the hole to see what had happened. But as
he looked, the water froze around his neck, and he could get
neither under the ice nor upon it. He was held fast, and the
brother killed him by breaking his head with a stout stick.
Then the brother went home and told his sister that he
had taken vengeance and had killed Otter. And he said,
" Now, you and I must part." His sister cried and pleaded
THEN HE DRESSED HIS SISTER IN GOOD CLOTHES, AND WASHED AND COMBED HER HAIR.
TALE OF WOODPECKER AND BLUEJAY 187
to be forgiven, but he said, "We must part ; we cannot dwell
longer among our people ; they know you have disobeyed me
and have done evil."
Then they said good-bye. And the brother said, "You
go south-west ; I will go north-east ; and soon we shall be
changed from what we are." Then they parted and went in
different ways as he had said. And at once by his magic
power they were changed, and she became a Woodpecker and
he became a Bluejay. And her head is still red because of
the paint he put on her ; and he is still blue because of the
paint he put on himself. But although they parted, they are
still mindful of each other. She always taps on the trees to
let her brother know that she is still alive, and he calls, " I
am here ; I am here," to let her know that he still lives. But
he keeps more to the north country, and often in the autumn
when the other birds fly south, he remains behind to spend
the winter in the north.
THE STUPID BOY AND THE WAND
I
"^HREE brothers lived with their mother in the forest.
They had no sisters ; their father was dead, and
their mother was an invalid. The youngest boy
was very stupid and silly ; he was always doing foolish things,
and he could never be trusted to do anything in the right
way. His two brothers provided for the home, and worked
to get food and clothing for themselves and their mother.
While they were away, the youngest boy was left in charge of
the house and his sick mother. But each night when the two
older boys came home, they found that their brother had
made many mistakes during the day. Sometimes he gave
all the food in the house away to beggars. So they often
beat him. But his mother always said, " He will do better
yet." His brothers were more cruel to him each day. One
day when they were away, an old woman came to the door
and asked for food and clothing. The boy worked hard
to give her what she asked for, but when his brothers came
home they only beat him for his pains.
That night the boy ran away from home. He decided
that he would endure his brothers' cruelty no longer. So he
went into the forest with a sad heart and slept under the
188
THE STUPID BOY AND THE WAND 189
trees. In the morning the old woman to whom he had given
food the day before came along. He was crying bitterly, for
he was hungry and cold. She asked him why he cried, and he
told her of his brothers' cruelty. " Never mind," she said,
"we will bring happiness out of your sorrow." She gave
him a little wand, and told him to carry it with him always
and that it would bring him good fortune. Then she told
him to go back home and that all would be well. So he put
the magic stick under his coat and went home. He reached
home early, and his brothers and mother did not know he had
been away.
Before they went away to work, his brothers told him to
look after the pigs all day. Soon after they had gone, a rich
drover came along wanting to buy pigs. The boy said he
would sell all he had for a good sum. He first cut off the
pigs' tails and placed them in a heap. He sold the pigs to
the man and gave the money to his mother. Then he took
the tails and went to the swamp near the river and stuck them
in the mud. When his brothers came home they asked about
the pigs. The boy said they had run to the swamp and had
sunk into the mud. The brothers went to the swamp, and
there were the tails sticking up from the mire. They pulled
each one, and each tail came up. The brothers thought the
tails had broken off and that the pigs were sunk in the mud.
And they were very angry at the boy.
The next day they decided to drown him and thus get rid
190 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
of him. So they placed him in a bag and brought him to the
river when the tide was out and the beach was bare. They
dug a hole far out in the sand and buried him. They thought
the tide would come in over the hole and drown him. When
they had gone away, the boy waved his wand and at once the
pigs he had sold to the drover came grunting over the sand.
He called to them to root up the mud where he lay, and he
promised them good food if they would obey him. So they
rooted in the sand until the bag was uncovered. Then he
kicked a hole in the bag and crawled out. He lulled a pig,
placed it in the bag and buried it. Soon the tide came in and
covered the hole, and the boy hid near his home all night.
The next day when the tide was out and the beach was
bare again, the brothers went down to the spot where they had
buried the boy. They wanted to dig him up and bury him in
a better place. But when they dug up the bag and opened it,
they found only a dead pig. They went home in great
wonder, but when they reached the house, the boy was sitting
on the doorstep laughing at them. Then they decided to try
again to kill him. They placed him in a strong bag and set
out with him to a high waterfall ; they planned to throw the
bag into the river above the falls, and he would be dashed to
pieces on the rocks as he was carried over. As they went
along, they were hungry, and at noon they left the bag on the
side of the road and went into a place to eat. While they
were eating, the rich drover who had bought the pigs came
THE PIGS CAME GRUNTING OVER THE SAND.
THE STUPID BOY AND THE WAND 191
along driving a herd of cattle and a flock of sheep. He gave
the bag a kick as he passed. The boy called to him, and he
stopped and asked what he was doing in the bag. The boy
said, "My brothers and I are going on a robbing tour. They
hide me in the bag and leave me where much money can be
taken. No one else knows that I am in the bag, and it will
never be found out where the money has gone." The drover
said he would like to go along too. But the boy said, " My
brothers will not let you. But you and I can work together
unknown to them. You take my place in the bag and I will
follow at a distance. My cruel brothers will not know, and
when you have taken the money, I will let you out and we
will run away together." So the drover took the boy's place
in the bag. The boy told him not to utter a sound. Then
he ran away and found the drover's cattle and took charge of
them.
Soon his brothers came out of the eating- place. They
gave the bag a kick and thought that the boy was still in it.
Then they went on their way. When they came to a spot
above the waterfall, they tossed the bag far out into the
stream. It was carried over the falls, and the poor drover
was never seen again. Meanwhile the boy had sold all the
drover's cattle and sheep. He went home with a large sum
of money and gave it to his mother. When his brothers
arrived home, he met them at the door and laughed at them.
Then his brothers decided to make no further attempt to
i92 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
kill him, for they saw that it would be of no use. They
asked him to let them join him, for they knew that in some
way he had received strange power. So the three set out one
morning together. As they went along through the forest, a
band of robbers fell upon them, and killed the two brothers.
But because of his wand, the boy escaped. That night he
came upon the robbers' house. The robbers were sitting
inside counting out their money. The boy went in with his
wand and killed them all. He took their money and went
home to his mother. Then he went back to the forest and
roused his two brothers from their death sleep. And they all
went home and lived happily and comfortably ever afterwards.
THE BLACKFOOT AND THE BEAR
ONE summer long ago, when the Blackfeet Indians
roamed freely over the Canadian plains, the son of
one of the Chiefs decided to go off alone to seek
adventure. He wanted to be a great man like his father, and
he thought he could never become great if he always stayed
at home. He said to his father, " I am going away far to the
West, beyond the mountains. I have heard that our Indian
enemies who live there have many fine horses. I will bring
some of their horses back to you." His father loved his son
well, for he was his only child. He knew that it would be a
very dangerous journey, and he tried to persuade his son not
to go. But the boy said, " Have no fear for me. If I do not
come back before the frost is on the prairies, do not be worried
about me. But if I do not come before the snow lies
deep on the plains, then you will know that I have gone for
ever and that I shall never come back." His father knew
that only by attempting dangerous deeds and doing hard
tasks could his son become great. And although he was loath
to see him go, he said good-bye and wished him good luck.
It was summer in the north country when the boy set out.
He took a number of companions with him. They travelled
o 193
i94 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
towards the Great Water in the West, and in a few days they
passed through the foot-hills and then beyond the mountains.
Soon they came to a great river. They saw the trail of
Indians along the bank. They followed the trail for many
days, and at last in the distance they saw the camps of their
enemies. Then they stopped where they would be hidden
from their enemies' sight. That night a new summer moon
was shining in the sky, and by its light they could see many
horses around the distant camp. The moon disappeared early.
When it had gone and the night was quite dark, the young
man went to the camp to get the horses. He went alone and
told his comrades to wait for him. Soon he came back driv
ing many horses. But his enemies had heard him driving
the horses and they set out in pursuit of him. When he
reached his own camp, he called to his comrades to ride for
their lives. All night they rode with their horses. When
morning broke, the fleeing Blackfeet could see the dust of
their pursuers far behind them. For days they rode with
their enemies not far away. They passed at last through the
mountains and out again into the rolling foothills. The
plains were before them, and already they could feel the wind
of the prairies. They thought they were now safe.
But their pursuers slowly but surely gained on them.
Soon they were close upon them, and a shower of arrows told
the Blackfeet that they would have to fight. The Blackfeet
saw on the trail ahead of them a lonely pine tree. It was
THE BLACKFOOT AND THE BEAR 195
surrounded by scrubby trees and shrubs. To this spot they
fled. They dug a pit and tried to defend themselves. But
their pursuers surrounded the spot and shot their arrows into
it. All the young Chiefs comrades were soon killed, and
when night came on he alone remained alive. He was wounded
and weary, but he lay silent in the pit. Then his pursuers
built fires all around the place where he lay to prevent his
escape and to drive him out of his hiding place. As the fires
crept closer, the young man thought that he must surely die.
Then he prayed to the Spirit of the Storm that rain might
fall, and he used all the charms he carried with him to try to
bring rain. Soon a heavy rain began to fall and the fires
were put out. The night became very dark, for the sky was
covered with storm clouds. In the darkness the young man
crawled through the trees and soon reached the open plain.
He crawled north into the foothills and hid in a cave in the
hills. He covered the front of the cave with grass and
boughs and lay hidden out of sight. For many days and
nights he lay there waiting for his wounds to heal. At night
he crawled out and gathered berries and roots for food. But
his wounds did not heal rapidly. He grew weaker and
weaker, and at last he was unable to leave the cave. He
waited for death. He thought of his home far away to the
south-east, and of his people's fear and worry for him, for the
snow would soon be deep on the plains.
One day when the snow was falling and he knew that
196 CANADIAN WONDER TALES
winter had come, he heard footsteps outside the cave. He
thought that an enemy had found him. The footsteps drew
nearer, and soon a huge form appeared at the door. It was
not an Indian, but a bear. The young man knew then that
the cave was the bear's winter home.
He thought that the bear would eat him. But the bear
only sniffed and smelled him all over. The man said, "Are
you going to kill me or to help me?" The bear said, " I will
help you. I will take you home to your people. We will
start in a few days." Then the bear licked the man's wounds
The man said he was very hungry, and the bear said he would
go out and get food. So he went off and soon came back with
a grouse in his mouth. The man ate the grouse and felt
better. Each day the bear brought him food, and licked his
wounds so that they healed. At last, one morning the bear
said, " To-day I must take you home. Get on my back and
hold on tight, and I will soon carry you to your people." So
the man climbed up on the bear's back and held on tight to
his long hair. And the bear trotted off towards the man's
home. For many days he ran over the plains. Each night
he rested and caught food to feed himself and the man. At
last they came one night to the top of a ridge in the plains.
From here, as the young man looked, he could see not far
away the camps of his people near a broad winding river.
The bear said, " Now you see your home-land. We shall
camp here to-night. To-morrow you must go on alone, and
THE BLACKFOOT AND THE BEAR 197
I shall go back to the hills." So in the morning the bear got
ready to go back. He said, " The snow is lying deep on the
hills. I must hurry and find a den for the winter." The man
was sorry to see him go. He said, " You have been very kind
to me. Can I do anything for you in return for your kind
ness?" And the bear answered, " You can do one thing for
me. Tell your people what I have done for you. And tell
them never to kill a bear that has gone to its den for the
winter. Tell them always to give a bear a chance to fight or
to run for his life." Then the bear said good-bye and trotted
away towards his winter home in the distant hills, and the
man walked on to his people on the plains. He told his
people of his adventures and what the bear had done for him.
And since that day the Blackfeet of the Canadian plains will
not kill a bear that has gone to its den for the winter. They
still remember the favour asked by the bear in return for his
kindness to their ancestor in the old days.
THE BOYS AND THE GIANT
r ~^HREE little boys were hunting in the Canadian
j &
woods in old times. They pretended to be big like
-*- men. A giant was prowling about looking for food.
He saw the boys through the trees. He thought he would
catch them and have a good meal. So he slapped his hands
together rapidly and made a noise like a partridge drumming.
The little boys heard the noise. They thought it was a
partridge, and they went towards the sound. The giant
caught them. He picked each one by the heels and struck
the head of each on the ground. He thought they were all
dead. Then he put them in a big birch-bark bag, put it on
his back, and started home, well pleased with the thought of
the nice meal he was going to have.
But the ground on which he had struck the boys' heads
was soft. The boys were only stunned by the blow. And
after the giant had walked a little way, the boys came to life
again. But they made no sound. One of the boys had
a little hunting knife made of stone. The giant walked under
the trees, and the branches rattled on the birch-bark bag.
When the branches rattled, the boy cut a hole in the bag, and
the giant could not hear the noise of the cutting. The boys
198
THE PEOPLE SET OUT TO FIND THE GIANTS. SOON THEY CAME TO THEIR CAVE.
THE BOYS AND THE GIANT 199
slipped through the hole, one after the other. Then they ran
home as fast as they could.
The giant was very strong. He had not felt the weight of
the boys on his back. And he did not notice a difference in
the weight when they slipped out. When he reached home,
he left his load outside. One of his brothers was waiting for
him. The giant said, " I have a good fat meal outside in my
bag. Come out and see it." When they opened the bag, it
was empty. The giant was very cross. But with his brother
he sat before the fire to eat greedily what food he had in his
cave.
When the boys reached home, they told their people what
had happened to them. The people set out to find the giants.
Soon they came to their cave. The giant and his brother
were sleeping before the fire after their hearty meal. The
people hid in the trees and shot at the giants. An arrow
struck the old giant. He awoke and said to his brother, " I
have a stitch in my side." But soon a shower of arrows
struck them and they fell dead, and the place was troubled no
more by giants.
RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED
This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the
date to which renewed.
^A
RETURN
.Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.
MOFFITT LIBRARY
LOAN PERIOD
]
2
3
4
5
6
ALL BOOKS ARE SUBJECT TO RECALL
RENEW BOOKS BY CALLING 642-2452
(NO PHONE RENEWALS FOR 2-HOUR LOANS)
DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
FORM NO. DD19
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. BERKELEY
BERKELEY, CA 94720-6000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11